Organic veg shares at School Farm

We have spaces for the 2022 season! Read on for details of how to sign up. 

As a member of School Farm CSA you will receive a box of fresh, organic vegetables grown primarily here on the farm at Dartington.

Choose from a standard weekly box of organic vegetables for a larger household or a smaller box for smaller households. Each week will be packed full of organic veg, and will change with the seasons: from broad beans and peas at mid-summer, juicy tomatoes in high summer, and hearty squashes for autumnal feast.

We offer standard or small size weekly boxes, from our collection points at the farm in Dartington, or in Totnes or Buckfastleigh.

Our veg shares are priced on a sliding scale. We are strongly motivated to grow and provide excellent food for our community. We would like this food to be available to anyone, regardless of their income and it is important for us to make our veg shares reasonably priced. At the same time, earning a living from food production is a labour of love – most food is artificially cheap, and it is hard work to make it pay. For that reason we invite our members, to choose what they pay. Our hope is that this price offering will make our veg shares more equitably accessible, and that membership payments will support the farm, and the growers, to sustain and develop what we do. Members choose what to pay from the following four options:

• SUBSIDISED PRICE: £36/month – small share, £60/month – standard share

This price, at 20% below our regular price, is enabled by others who are able to give more.  The farm could not sustain selling veg shares at this price alone, but it is offered thanks to the community of members as a whole.

• REGULAR PRICE: £45/month – small share, £75/month – standard share

This has been the cost of our main season veg shares for several years without any price rise.  When we launched the year-round option in 2020 we actually reduced the price.  With inflation as it is, we are unable to sustain that, and so we are now bringing the year-round price back in line with our main season price.

• SUPPORTER PRICE: £54/month – small share, £90/month – standard share

At 20% above our regular price, this will support the farm in sustaining our subsidised share offer – by paying more you will enable someone else to pay less. This may also enable us to pay our core team for more of the hours actually worked.

• INVESTOR PRICE: £90/month – small share, £150/month – standard share

This option is really an investment in the farm and its future.  It will enable us to move towards paying our team for more of the hours actually worked, as well as being able to look after and invest in the infrastructure of the farm, without reliance on grant funding.  Such things are so beneficial to the long-term sustainability of the project.

We are committed to providing locally grown organic vegetables. We are small in size, and work with the land to grow ecologically and efficiently. Based on the capacity of the land, our produce varies through the year.

Main season veg (June – December inclusive)

During this, the main growing season, you’ll receive a share of our own produce each week, with no or very very few (less than 5%) bought-in items. You’ll receive the full summer & autumn bounty, along with whatever extras the farm produces in line with the CSA model.

‘Roots and shoots’ veg (January – May inclusive)

Through winter and the hungry gap we will be offering a share of the harvest, combining our own field’s production with that of other local, Organic producers. We’ll be growing many of the ‘shoots’ – the leafy above-ground winter vegetables, and we’ll be sourcing the roots from others. It will be a high priority of ours to keep the quality as high as ever.

You can sign up for our organic vegetable harvest shares here, or you can contact us at info@schoolfarmcsa.org.uk. 

Why do we farmers love CSA?

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between farmers and the local community, where the responsibilities, risks and rewards of farming are shared.  Benefits are enjoyed by all sides: farmers for instance can receive a more stable and secure income and closer connection with their community, and members can benefit by eating fresh healthy food, feeling more connected to the land where their food is grown and learning new skills.

How is our CSA radically different to the supermarket?

We don’t put a monetary value on our veg, which means that instead of packing up a box of veg that is equal to a particular cost we ask members to subscribe to the farm and for that we’ll do our best to grow as many vegetables as possible, in a variety that will tickle your palette.  Each week we divide up what is ripe and share it out equally with our members.  If the weather is terrible our members know we’ve done our best and accept a less of some produce, and if the weather is amazing then our members are rewarded for their commitment with a share of the abundance.  Your share of the harvest will vary from week to week, season to season, and year to year.