The Plan - Community Shared Agriculture (CSA)

[Oscar]

The Plan - Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) - "Just" Beef

http://www.justbeef.ca/plan.html

“Just” Beef is fresh-frozen organic beef produced on a family farm near Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan. We are dedicated to raising the healthiest meat possible, with the least environmental impact possible. Our farm brings together land, crops and livestock in a completely integrated way. Sustainable grazing is our goal. Manure is not a problem, it is a resource that we compost and return to selected fields. Cattle and wildlife share our fields. There is also a trained driving team of mules on the farm.

Keith and Monica Neu,
Hudson Bay, SK
http://www.justbeef.ca/doors.html

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Frankly, I’m worried.

Organics started out right, with local small farmers growing food for people. But I’m afraid we organic farmers are victims of our own success. Instead of setting up local, small-scale processing and marketing clubs, co-ops or businesses, the multinational corporations have realized that the trend is toward organics and that there is money to be made on the word organic. They are scrambling onto the ship so fast that I think they will sink it. Soon “organic” won’t mean anything! Their dominance will dilute the organic standards until they will be unrecognizable and useless (just think “Wal-Mart Organics, we sell for less …” UGH!!!!).

What that means to me is that I’m getting caught in the same trap that I was in when I was doing conventional farming: growing a commodity, not food, and selling it below my cost of production. On the other side, we are all caught in the consumer trap of lots of cheap food, prepared by a handful of powerful companies that don’t care about anything but the bottom line.You would be amazed at how few food processors there are compared to the variety of labels on the shelves. This is what we get when we let food-for-profit corporations rule.

I have a way out. I can and do produce most of my food. On my farm we eat all the garden produce—fresh in the summer, blanched and frozen in the winter—and root crops the year around; beef, chicken, eggs all year, and over time we plan to plant an orchard, get honey bees, and add a few porkers. But this takes work and money. Work, I have lots of. Money; that’s a different story. I run a 1,400 acre farm and I am barely holding on by growing grain and beef. I’m certified organic but still haven’t got any extra money to invest in the farm so as to make it truly self-sustaining in energy. I would love to have a biodiesel plant and a boigas digester to make power. I am really close to having food security, but energy is a problem. What I want is to have the resources to make this farm truly self-sustaining!

Here’s My Plan:

I am willing to start what I call a farm food co-op or a Community Supported Farm. With your investment this farm can feed about 150 families, over time. If you divert some of your grocery money every month the farm can supply you with grains, garden produce, beef, chicken, and eggs the year around. Over time it will come to supply flour, fruit, honey, pork and just about anything that can be raised in Hudson Bay SK. You order what you need that month and I’ll deliver once a month. We’ll start with 50 families the first year and grow to150 by year three.150 is the limit of growth for this farm and when it’s up and running it will employ 6 full-time people. It will be a model for the future if we really want food security.

Together, we can do it.

sincerely,
Keith Neu
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The Plan

• Form a food co-op starting with 50 families.
• We will limit the co-op to 150 families
• If more people want to join, we will help another farmer make the change.
• A family unit will be 2 adults with any amount of children. A single parent with fewer than 3 children over 12 will be 1/2 a unit.
• Low-income families can work part-time (lots of garden work in the summer and fall)
• Basically, you are hiring the labour it takes to feed you.
• The farm will store the food and will deliver the amounts that you need monthly
• Your obligation is to pre-order the amount you will need for the year in the spring and to be able to store your monthly delivery.
• This can start spring of 2007

Garden/Grain

$100 per family/month will get you a piece of farm production (within reason, not for resale):
• Whole grains and garden produce (frozen and bagged in winter)
• Flax , wheat, etc.
• Peas,carrots,corn, string beans, etc.
• Order what you think you need in the spring and we will grow it and store it for you

Grassfed Beef

$40 monthly for 120 lbs beef yearly; monthly delivery of 10 lbs.
• We can adjust to your eating habits( more or less beef)
• Assorted cuts, steak, roasts, burger
• You can’t just order all steaks (cows don’t grow that way)

Roasting Chicken

$1.25 per chicken per month
• Order in the spring the amount you want, ie: 10 birds = 12.50$ monthly etc.
• Delivery starts in the fall

Eggs

(in this case the chickens have to come first)
• You will need 3 birds to lay a dozen eggs a week.(they sometimes miss a day and some are just duds)
• We’ll raise the birds in the spring and they will start laying in the fall. They are good for two to three years.
• $45 one-time payment (first year: to buy the chickens)
• $1.50$ per dozen for feeding chickens and cleaning eggs when delivered

(Note that we can modify this plan at the annual meeting of Plan Members)

To sign up for an informational meeting contact:
brenda.frick@usask.ca

The Future

• With your investment, as we grow to 150 families we also will grow the farm by expanding into an orchard, honey, flours, rolled oats, etc.
• We will build an abbattior and a commercial kitchen so we can start making a variety of prepared foods—i.e: soups, stews home canning and whatever you want.
• We’ll become energy self-sufficent by building a biodiesel and biogas plant for fuel and electricity
• We’ll also build an off-the-grid strawbale Guesthouse that the co-op can timeshare, for members to spend some quality time at the farm and to enjoy GOD’s creation, NATURE!!!!

We CAN do It.