How Does a CSA Work? Your Roadmap to Finding a CSA in Toledo

So you’ve decided you might want to join a CSA near Toledo, Ohio.

Only one problem.

Where do you begin? How does a CSA work?

Starting a search for the “right” CSA in Toledo can be overwhelming.

This article is going to try to help you figure out the questions you should even be asking yourself. How are CSAs fundamentally different from each other? How do CSAs work? What features should you be looking for? How do you even find them?

In this article I guide you through the 12 starting point questions to ask yourself as you compare the different CSAs in Toledo, Ohio. This will serve as a roadmap to navigate these unchartered waters and help you make a solid decision.

My goal isn’t necessarily for you to choose our CSA. I actually really just want you to end up in the “right” CSA for YOU. Because it does me no good to have a customer that isn’t clicking with our unique CSA signature. I want happy customers.

So if this information leads you to decide to choose another farm in Toledo, that’s good for both of us. Use these questions to help you identify the things to look for as you select the farm that’s right for you.

So are you ready to dive in?… Here we go.

STEP 1: HOW DOES A CSA EVEN WORK in Toledo?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. When you join a CSA farm, customers sign up to be a “member” or “shareholder” of the farm. You provide an good faith deposit/payment well before the season begins, and then you get a “share” of the farm’s produce in the form of a weekly box later in the season. The farmer can then use that to  help pay for the expenses associated with growing the food (many of which happen up front). When the crops are ready, the farmer will make good on the investment and build a box of veggies each week for the customer, based on what’s in season and ready at the time. This arrangement continues for a set period of time agreed to in the membership agreement. Farmers usually include other side benefits like recipes and farm events to help you connect with the farm story. The benefits are many: knowing where your food comes from, higher quality, freshness, and produce longevity, investing in a local business, teaching the family the story behind their food, healthy lifestyle, and creativity in the kitchen.

It’s important to note that in a true “CSA” agreement, the customer shares the risks of the season with the farmer. If weather (tornado, hail, floods, bug infestations) or other acts of God should lead to disaster or a low-yielding harvest, the member will see less veggies in their weekly share, and that is part of the gig. This has occasionally happened to our CSA farm. It usually only impacts the box share for 2 weeks, but it can happen.

KNOW THE CSA STYLES.

There are many different styles of CSA in Toledo. Below are just a few examples:

1. Traditional (farmer choice) — This is the version of CSA where the farmer decides what to put in the box, based on what is available in his/her field. If your farmer is good at what they do, they should have a production plan that makes sure you have plenty of variety from week to week. You don’t get to pick and choose what goes into the box each week. It’s a little like Christmas morning, opening up the box each week. It’s a surprise!
2. Choice CSA — This is a version where the farmer sends out an availability list to the customer days before harvest. Customers can pick and choose from options for their upcoming share — essentially building their own box. If you don’t fill out the weekly order, you get a default box determined by the farmer. There are some limits to this system — you can’t substitute 4 bunches of carrots for the 4 things you don’t like in your box — but it gives you option.
3. Buy Down CSA — This is where you prepay for a membership up front. The money gets turned into store credit, and then each week you go into the store and build your own order. You can skip weeks when you need to. You can get a big order or a little order. You just have to make sure you use up all the credit by the end of the agreement.
4. Market Style — This is the version of CSA popular at farmer’s markets. You show up each week to the pickup location, and see a spread of veggies in front of you. There will be a menu of options for CSA members. For example it might say: “Choose either 1 sack of potatoes OR 1 bunch of carrots.” Or “Choose 3 of the following 5 options on this table.” This feels more like shopping at a market. Plus, you’re picking out which specific bunch of carrots you want from the options presented.

STEP 2: WHERE DO YOU FIND A CSA IN TOLEDO, OHIO?

The first step is to locate the farms in your area that offer CSA. How do you find them?
Luckily, there’s an easy answer to this question. And it’s www.LocalHarvest.org. This is a website where farmers can list their farm and their CSA. And because it’s free, most farmers use it. If you want to find out what CSAs are in your zip code, this is the place to go. Simply click in the search bar near the top and type “CSA” then enter your city or your zip code in the search field adjacent to that.

Your search results will show all the CSAs within a certain mile radius. The farms are listed in alphabetical order.

You can also do a search on Google. Type in “CSA farm near me” or “vegetable farms near me” or “CSA in Toledo.” This will usually pull up a list of farms in your area.

STEP 3: Look at the pick up site options for your CSA options in Toledo.

The next step to helping you find a CSA in Toledo (or wherever you live) is checking out the pick up site windows. CSAs will offer multiple places to pick up their produce (or beef or whatever you’re looking for). Most of them offer their home farm, but almost all will offer at least one other option for pickup. It could be at a farmer’s market, a local neighborhood, a church parking lot, a local business, or even delivery.

These pick up windows are usually set times every week, and these pick up times are set in stone. So if you can’t make it to that time slot, you can take that particular CSA out of the running. It’s why I place this step near the top of the process – it helps you narrow down your choices considerably.

Some farms will offer a LOT of pick up sites. Some will offer only a few. It doesn’t really matter who has the most. What really matters is: “Does the farm I want offer a pick up site that works for ME?”

That being said, you’ll need to ask yourself, “How important is the pick up location for you? Does it trump all the other features? Or are you somewhat flexible?” What if the pick up location is close by, but another farm (which is further away) offers a fruit share or is certified organic? This is where you have to decide which features of the membership are most important.

STEP 4: What types of shares do they offer? Is variety of selection important to you?

CSAs in Toledo will offer different packages or “share” types, and in this step you need to compare the varieties and decide which ones you want.

In addition to veggie shares, you might see egg shares, chicken shares, coffee shares, bread shares, cheese shares, mushrooms, milk shares, beef shares, flower shares, honey… There’s just about a share for everything these days.

One of the features customers often like about CSAs is that they offer a “one-stop” shop for a wide variety of local products. Some people really value the convenience factor of having one CSA that gives them everything in one place. The more choices the better.

This is one way you can compare CSAs. Some of them will only offer 1-2 types of shares. Some will offer the whole kit and caboodle. And others will be somewhere in between.

Note: our farm offers veggie shares, fruit shares, coffee, cheese, and eggs. But we also have partnerships with other meat producers, AND we offer an online store each week for you to “add on” additional products to your box (if you feel like one bunch of carrots won’t suffice). There are many ways that CSAs can accommodate your needs. Do your homework.

STEP 5: Count the cost of your CSA options.

After you’ve made up your wish list of share types you are trying to find, you need to compare the cost. Keep in mind that CSAs will often be more expensive than grocery store costs (if you itemize each item you receive).

As you look at the numbers, be sure to factor in a few things…

Pay attention to the SIZE of the share type. This can be difficult to standardize because different farms call their shares by different names. For example, you might see words like: “Standard share,” “Full share,” “Half share,” “Family Share,” “Senior Share,” and more. How are they different? And which one do I start with?

I always tell families who are starting out with our CSA to choose the smallest share size – something basic like our standard share. The bigger (and more expensive) shares are for families that have over 4 kids and that eat or preserve a lot of veggies each week.

If you’re just starting out and getting your feet wet, don’t overdo it. Work your way into the CSA way of life slowly and get your bearings.

Another way to compare costs is to pay attention to the number of WEEKS in the farm’s CSA season. Some will go 18 weeks, 20 weeks, 25 weeks. Some will offer multiple seasons, breaking it up into spring, summer, fall or winter sections. And some CSAs will go year round. In these cases, you can usually “turn off” your membership if you need to for a season.

Eventually you’ll have to do the math. Try to find two share types that are similar in quantity. Then divide the cost of the similar shares by the number of weeks to figure out your cost per week. This will help you compare apples to apples.

You’ll likely notice that some farms may end up at a higher cost per week than others. And if you see that, before you walk away, you may want to ask yourself, “WHY is that?”

Take a look at the other features they offer in their membership package… it may be that these features carry added value.

For instance, in our case… our CSA’s cost is higher than the average, but we also offer a killer support system for our membership with our highly engaged private Facebook community, AND our online training course that teaches our customers the roadmap to CSA success in a short amount of time. That’s got a lot of extra value, and is something that other farms don’t offer to the degree we do. So our cost is higher.

If you know that you won’t be using those features of membership, then taking the less expensive CSAs might be a natural step. Pay for the features you know you’ll use.

Jose picks green beans for last week’s share.

STEP 6: Do you need certified organic? Ask about the CSA farm’s “growing practices.”

Let’s be honest. Most people looking for a CSA like the idea of supporting a local farmer, getting behind sustainable agriculture, protecting the environment, and “clean” eating.

You don’t find too many CSA prospects that don’t care about how their food is grown.

So if you’re reading this article, you are likely at some point going to ask yourself “How important are the farmer’s growing practices to my decision?”

There are all kinds of labels out there, “organic”, “made with organic”, “certified organic”, “100% organic,” “grown using organic practices,” “in transition,” “conventional.”

Learn what these words mean (because they are NOT all equal). The gold standard is “certified organic.” Figure out which labels are deal-breakers for you. (They may not be!)

Don’t be surprised if farms carrying the gold standard are priced higher.

For a long time, we just farmed “using organic practices.” But we didn’t have the official certified seal. Our customers told us they trusted us and didn’t need to see that USDA logo on our sign.
But over time, having that seal became important to us as farmers. We wanted to draw a line in the sand and say, “This is so important for us that we’re willing to go thru all the hoops to make it official.”

We are now a USDA certified organic farm, AND certified by the Real Organic Project (an even higher standard). We feel like this decision has removed a barrier that some of our prospects may have had to joining our farm. And that has premium value for us.

I can’t tell you which growing method is better or best. This is ultimately YOUR judgment call. How important is the way in which the farmer grows your food? And does it trump everything else?

Corinna is roasting sweet peppers on a sheet pan this weekend.

STEP 7: Culinary Training and Support – Does your CSA in Toledo help you be successful with the program?

CSAs are primarily responsible for growing your food for you… getting you a quality product from their fields that will taste better than something you’d get at the grocery store.

But most CSA farms in Toledo these days are also trying to give you some ideas for how to use their product. At the very least, it’s pretty standard for CSAs to offer weekly recipes and storage tips.

But it’s also true that many CSA rookies hit a wall their first year when they start getting things they don’t know what to do with, or they get overloaded by greens or tomatoes or corn. Or they don’t know how to preserve their items to keep them lasting as long as possible.

Find out if your Toledo CSA offers training to help you use the box. And if so, to what degree? How do they support you in using the produce when you get it home?

We’re learning that this is a key piece to long-term customer satisfaction. As a result, our farm recently decided to put some serious investment in developing our customer onboarding process.

At Shared Legacy Farms CSA, we’ve developed a Roadmap to CSA Mastery for our customers based on hard research of our longtime “Master Customers.” It includes vegetable exit strategies, how to freeze, how to keep track of inventory so you don’t waste food, kitchen tools you need to succeed, a checklist of skill sets to learn in the kitchen, common mistakes rookies make, video ebooks for every vegetable, veggie video tutorials, and much more.

We’ve also got a private Facebook page (the site of our video training), where our members can connect and learn from each other. It’s kind of like a giant support group of foodies all talking to each other.

That’s a huge bonus feature of our CSA that’s reaping big dividends for customers.

Again, not all CSAs in Toledo do this to such a degree. And maybe you don’t need this support. So it’s just a matter of what’s most valuable for you.

So find out what kind of education/ training and support the Toledo CSAs offer you to use the food they grow.

By the way, if you’re one of those readers that can’t be a part of our CSA (because you don’t live nearby), but you still wish you could get access to our training and support, you CAN!! We offer our CSA Membership Academy membership for $19/month. <== Click here to see what it’s all about. This is basically like a “Netflix” for CSA members with tons of PDF guides, recipes, and video tutorials to help you succeed at CSA. This will get you access to all our weekly recipes, our veggie tutorials, cooking videos, the Beginner’s Guide to CSA mini-course, storage guide, and even our Canning course (and step by step instruction guides for specific canning recipes). Once you subscribe, your credit card gets charged automatically every month until you cancel.

The crew harvests watermelons.

STEP 8: Take a look at their online presence.

Check out the CSAs’ websites to see if they offer any special added benefits online – do they have a blog you can learn from? Other PDFs you can download like a harvest calendar or How to Storage Guide? Do they have a Recipe database or cooking tips?

Now a word on websites… I will say don’t be surprised if you don’t see great quality in farmer websites yet. Farmers are busy growing food for you. And website maintenance may not be in their wheelhouse. So go easy on them if the website isn’t superstar.

Do they have a Facebook fan page?

This is almost more important than their website these days. I would highly recommend you visit the Facebook page for each CSA in Toledo. A lot of times the images you see give you a good idea of the energy on the farm, the culture of the farm, and the overall vibe of the business. In addition to the basic business Facebook page, ask if they have a private Facebook group for CSA members only.

Private Facebook groups are incredibly valuable, and here’s why. If facilitated well, they become a place where all your members can connect with each other, create community, share ideas, ask for tips, and receive encouragement. You become a part of a community identity — and that’s very powerful. Some farms (like ours) do weekly live broadcasts to share cooking demonstrations or unpack the boxes and help you identify the veggies. You get storage reminder tips and basic uses of each veggie. We offer fun contests and challenges every 3 weeks with prizes. This pulls out all kinds of creative ideas and builds energy and a spirit of fun to the experience.

Remember: this group of people will become “your tribe.” How well that tribe is groomed and supported may just matter more than you think, and may create a better overall user experience.

STEP 9: Identify valuable “Extra features” in your Toledo CSA.

So every CSA will have its strength. And this is kind of hard to find out because they don’t all necessarily spell out those features in their product description.

Here are just a few examples of extra features you might find as you compare CSAs in Toledo.

• Do they have excellent customer service? Are they NICE to you?
• Do they communicate well with you and let you know what’s coming each week?
• Do they have farm events for the kiddoes? Do you care if they do?
• Do they offer the option to hold your share or switch your site when you’re out of town?
• What happens when you miss your box? Do they save it for you?
• Do they offer affiliate partnerships with other valued vendors in your area? (like a meat producer or fishery?)
• Do they require a work commitment of some sort? Volunteer hours each week?

Halibut tacos from Brian Hammer with pickled beets.

STEP 10: Find out the payment options and refund policy for your Toledo CSA.

Most CSAs in Toledo will require you to pay some kind of deposit when you sign up as an act of “good faith.” This helps the farmer avoid having to take out loans to cover their expenses before the season starts. But the payment plans differ from farm to farm. And for some of you, this may be a deal breaker.

Our farm requires 50% down at sign up, and 50% down by June 1 (with room for exceptions if needed). This is pretty standard.

But some CSAs will have a smaller amount required for deposit –say $50 and the rest due the week before the season starts. Some farms will ask you to pay week to week — only for the weeks you use. You should ask if you are allowed to spread your payments out over the course of the pre-season. I know we do this for about 20 customers each year.

Payment methods also vary. Cash, credit card, bank checks, and credit cards are the most common methods.

Find out what their refund policy is.

Most CSA farmers will refund you if you back out before the season begins. (There may be a non-refundable deposit portion though, so check).

Most CSA farmers will also refund you if have to re-locate mid-season (pro-rated). But not all CSAs will refund you if the reason you are leaving is dissatisfaction with your CSA experience mid-season. The general rule of thumb with CSAs is that once it starts, “you make a commitment for the year no matter what.”

Now before you judge your farmers for this policy, try to put yourself in their shoes. It’s very challenging for a farmer to have a whole bunch of people back out mid-season, leaving them with open spots (and income gaps) they were counting on and now can’t fill.

On our farm, we offer a pro-rated refund for any reason once the season begins, although we do ask you to give us 2 weeks to find a replacement. We didn’t always offer this generous refund policy in our early years. But after 9 years, we’ve gotten to the point in our business where we usually have a wait list, making it easier for us to easily replace those who need to exit.

STEP 11: Read reviews of the Toledo CSA farms on Google or Facebook.

If you’re like me, before you buy anything on Amazon, you read the reviews. Or at the very least, you see how many stars the product gets.

Reputation matters.

So go and see what people are saying about your CSA farms in Toledo. Look for reviews on Facebook or Google. Scroll through the comments. See if your CSA has a testimonials page on their website.

Look for answers to questions like these:

• Is the quality of the product good?
• What are the pain points?
• How many reviews are there?
• What else are people saying about the farm?
• How is it adding value to customers?

A lot of times you can learn a lot about the “average” customer experience simply by reading reviews.

Jed disappeared for 2 hours and came back with these raspberries!

Step 12: Find out some important stats about your CSAs in Toledo.

Specifically: How big are they? How long have they been doing CSA? And what is their customer retention rate?

Asking the size of the CSA is important for a couple of reasons. First of all, if the CSA has several hundred or even a thousand members, you can probably safely assume it’s a strong CSA. Popular CSAs often attract the most customers. That being said, there are lots of farms that purposely keep their CSA operation smaller (under 50), so they can give their customers a customized and personal experience.

Which is why you should also ask how many years they’ve been doing a CSA.

Experience matters. If the CSA is small in size, but it’s been around for a while, it shows that they’ve chosen to stay small for a reason. If this is their first or second year, that might explain their small size, as it takes a while to build up a following. You’ll get a LOT of interaction with your farmer, which is a great thing. But you MAY also go through some aches and pains as your farmer learns the ropes.

We sure are grateful to our “founding” twelve customers who stuck with us the first 2 years. We made mistakes, and they had committed hearts. We eventually got better as farmers. But I also feel a little bad that we learned on their dime.

Keep in mind that really large CSAs will likely feel more impersonal for you — you may have to work harder to connect with the farm. To be fair, that’s because it’s impossible for the farmer to get to know 1000 people well. And he/she will likely have a strong team of staff members who will be their ambassadors. So you will sacrifice some of the “personal connection” in these larger CSAs. However, a large CSA also likely has quite a volume of product to pull from, so you will have a strong variety of veggies in your box each week.

The CSAs retention rate is also a VERY important statistic that will tell you about the health of the CSA.

The industry’s national average is around 50%. Think about that for a minute: half of the people who join their first year don’t renew the next year.

If a farm has a higher retention rate, it’s an indication that you’ll probably have a great experience, that your farmers take good care of their customers, have a quality product, and help their customers progress in their goals for eating more local food.

Anything above 70% is a really strong number. Our farm’s current retention rate hovers between 80-85% —  largely due to our robust CSA customer onboarding program. If you find a high retention rate, jump on board. It’s a very good sign.

So… How do you find a CSA in Toledo?

Before I sign off, I want you to remember that not all of the questions will hold equal weight with everyone. These are just the main questions to consider. YOU have to decide which features trump the others.

The questions in this article will serve as a roadmap to guide you in your decision. Remember the big picture… not all CSAs are created equal. We each have our signature move.
And this is a big financial and emotional investment for you. So do your research. Know what you’re getting yourself into.

The key to having a good CSA experience is making sure you manage your expectations.

If you decide you want to join our CSA, we would LOVE that. And we’ll take good care of guiding you through your farm food experience.

You got this! Good luck.