Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — As the weather warms up, many Utahns are considering planting a garden to grow their own fruits and vegetables. More and more of them are buying shares of Community Supported Agriculture farms to get fresh produce and meat for their families. But they may need to hurry if they want to buy a share.
For those who don't know how Community Supported Agriculture programs work, here's how it happens: Customers buy a share of a participating farm, and in return they get fresh items from the grower. Some farms grow produce, others raise livestock and some farms specialize in making cheese.
The popularity of CSA farms in Utah has risen dramatically. Six years ago there were only three farms in the state. Now there are 36.
Therese Meyer is the chair of the Great Salt Lake Resource Conservation and Development Council, which sponsors the website CSAUtah.org. She said, "I think there is just an awakening in the community where they want to buy local and they want to get fresh food for their families."
Meyer says the website lets people look over an updated listing of which farms participate.
"[They can] pick the one that they're most interested in and then just go ahead and call them and find out if [the farm] still has shares. That's really the only way to do it," Meyer said.
But if this interests you, you're advised to move quickly.
"Some of the smaller farms only have 50 or so shares available and they're all sold out," Meyer explained.
But there may still be time to get in on the action. Meyer says many farmers are just planting now, and there are some farms that will be able to add rows of crops if they need to.
"There is some flexibility in some of the farms, especially the larger ones," she said.
Even if shares of these farms sell out completely, many of the growers still have some crops left over to sell at farmers' markets. So, even if you miss out on buying a share of the farm you want to support, you still have a chance to buy what they've grown.
