Tripod Interview: Elizabeth Smith

Politics & Community Interview
Elizabeth Smith

interviewed by Mike Agger on July 17, 1996

"Everyone thinks that agriculture, working in soil, is some old-fashioned bygone form of slavery that nobody should ever have to do anymore. That seems insane to me."

Caretaker Farm
Five Springs Farm: a brief history of the CSA idea and how it worked on a farm in Michigan.
The Small Farm Resource - a fascinating and useful collection of advice about barns, bats, bees and more for people who live or work on small farms.
Elizabeth Smith and her husband Sam have been farming for 25 years at Caretaker Farm in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The farm's economy is based on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. In a CSA, members of the local community buy a share of the farm's harvest at the beginning of the growing season. With this established base of support, the farmers are free to concentrate on simply growing the food. Throughout the summer and fall, members come to the farm to pick up their weekly share of the harvest. Tripod recently spoke to Elizabeth about the farming life and the goals of community supported agriculture. Becoming part of a CSA is about much more than vegetables.

Tripod: I know you have been farming here at Caretaker Farm for 25 years. When did you begin to run the farm as a CSA?
Elizabeth Smith: The farm has only been community supported for six years. Our vision, when we started the farm, was to be supported by people who live nearby. We thought that if we could grow food of high quality locally, we would have people flocking to the farm to buy it. For many years, we had a farm stand up on the road, but it was difficult to get people to buy the food. The concept of local food is very difficult to establish. People assume that food comes from California, Florida, Wisconsin, anywhere but down the road.
Tripod: Do you think that attitude has contributed to the decline of the family farm?
ES: The state of the family farm has been nobody's concern. The statistics are horrifying, but no one is batting an eye. The farmer is not even included in the census counts, because we are less than one percent of the population now. Others can speak more eloquently than I about the decline of our farming culture. It's a scary thing.
Tripod: It has been said that Americans romanticize the family farm, and that if we were really given the choice, we would not want to go back to an agrarian way of life.
ES: Well, the family farm has always been a struggling farm, because farmers have not necessarily worked the land in a sustainable, productive way. There has not been a lot of encouragement for farmers to treat the land properly. The idea for a long time was just to get bigger and bigger and become the breadbasket of the Western world.
These days, most of the people going into agriculture have no direct agricultural background. They look at all the other options for what you could do with your life, and they see that farming offers the opportunity to be your own boss. Right now, there is also a lot of idealism around having your own farm among young people.

The idea for a long time was just to get bigger and bigger and become the breadbasket of the Western world.

Tripod: Is idealism enough to be a farmer?
ES: For most of the farmers I know, a big part of their enjoyment stems from love of the work, that is number one. You are also doing something important, because sustainable agriculture is a rational response to the kind of environmental damage we see going on throughout the world. It is also important for us to do this in order to build community. There has been a complete loss of local community.
Tripod: Let's talk more about how you implemented the community supported agriculture model here at Caretaker Farm.
ES: A man came to visit us ten years ago, Jean Vanderton. He came to us because we are one of the oldest organic farms in New England. He told us about a concept taking off in Europe and Japan called community supported agriculture. He described it as a movement to gain support for the local farm through the local community. They support each other.
We did not take to the idea right away. A farmer friend of ours was convinced and started the first CSA in America along with another farm in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, we were getting burned out marketing to restaurants, being in a truck, being on the road. We were not feeding local people -- instead we were feeding people in cities who didn't care where their food came from. It got to the point where I felt we had to do it. It put a name on what we were trying to do all along. I also thought that if we could create appropriate models of community supported farming where we lived, it would have a powerful ripple effect on encouraging other people to do the same.

Sustainable agriculture is a rational response to the kind of environmental damage we see going on throughout the world.

Tripod: Why does the CSA model benefit both the farmer and the customers?
ES: Actually, they are not customers, they are part of the farm. The members give us a base of support at the beginning of each growing season. We are able to buy seeds and prepare for the next season knowing that we are growing food for a community that will eat it. Also, this local group of people knows who we are, knows their farmers. We have a community that we can educate and talk to and they can educate us about what food they want. It is a two way street. We are anxious to please them and they are anxious to see us thrive and do well.
Tripod: Is the CSA idea spreading in the United States?
ES: There are about 500 CSAs throughout the United States. They tend to spread in clusters. If you look at a map with dots of CSAs, its heavily dotted around Madison, Wisconsin; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and throughout New England. On the West Coast, there are clusters in Oregon and Washington State. There are a couple of clusters in the South, in Pennsylvania. The idea is growing in Virginia and Maryland. Philip Morris is even financing one in Tennessee! Prisons develop them, as well as handicapped communities.
Tripod: How do you introduce the CSA idea in a new community?
ES: It all boils down to education. We need to get the information out to people about what they are eating, the true cost of the production of that food, and the tremendous savings for supporting local agriculture. Its economical to support a CSA, but it comes up slam-bam against lifestyle. People have difficulty paying for food in advance or relying upon an uncertain harvest. They want their food in neat, convenient packages.
Tripod: What does farming teach people about the land?

ES: Every time you pull up a carrot you pull something out of the ground. It is like a bank, you can't keep taking without giving. We have to start investing in the earth again. With sustainable agriculture, the principle is to leave the land in better shape than when you found it. When we got this farm, the land was depleted, worn out, and it has taken years to build up its fertility. We now support 130 families on 3 1/2 acres.

When we got this farm, the land was depleted, worn out, and it has taken years to build up its fertility. We now support 130 families on 3 1/2 acres.
Tripod: What do you see as the future for the ideals of local production at the heart of CSA?
ES: Right now, we are trying to get Berkshire County to become the first county in the United States to begin restoring its local agriculture. Everybody is saying we've lost community. Wal-Marts are moving in, downtowns are dying, there is a malaise among young people. If we can begin to recenter our communities on food production, on agriculture, I feel that there is tremendous potential to rebuild the social fabric we find lacking in our towns and communities.
Tripod: It sounds like you would like to turn back the clock one hundred years.
ES: I like to say "step back into the future." Everyone thinks that agriculture, working in soil, is some old-fashioned bygone form of slavery that nobody should ever have to do anymore. We should all be sitting in offices and in clean environments. This seems insane to me.
Tripod: Yet gardening is America's number one hobby.
ES: Yes, it's true. It is so perfectly obvious that we are all deeply connected to the land whether we know it or not.

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Elizabeth Smith interviewed by Mike Agger on July 17, 1996	"Everyone thinks that agriculture, working in soil, is some old-fashioned bygone form of slavery that nobody should ever have to do anymore. That seems insane to me."

Five Springs Farm: a brief history of the CSA idea and how it worked on a farm in Michigan. The Small Farm Resource - a fascinating and useful collection of advice about barns, bats, bees and more for people who live or work on small farms.	Elizabeth Smith and her husband Sam have been farming for 25 years at Caretaker Farm in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The farm's economy is based on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. In a CSA, members of the local community buy a share of the farm's harvest at the beginning of the growing season. With this established base of support, the farmers are free to concentrate on simply growing the food. Throughout the summer and fall, members come to the farm to pick up their weekly share of the harvest. Tripod recently spoke to Elizabeth about the farming life and the goals of community supported agriculture. Becoming part of a CSA is about much more than vegetables. Tripod: I know you have been farming here at Caretaker Farm for 25 years. When did you begin to run the farm as a CSA? Elizabeth Smith: The farm has only been community supported for six years. Our vision, when we started the farm, was to be supported by people who live nearby. We thought that if we could grow food of high quality locally, we would have people flocking to the farm to buy it. For many years, we had a farm stand up on the road, but it was difficult to get people to buy the food. The concept of local food is very difficult to establish. People assume that food comes from California, Florida, Wisconsin, anywhere but down the road. Tripod: Do you think that attitude has contributed to the decline of the family farm? ES: The state of the family farm has been nobody's concern. The statistics are horrifying, but no one is batting an eye. The farmer is not even included in the census counts, because we are less than one percent of the population now. Others can speak more eloquently than I about the decline of our farming culture. It's a scary thing. Tripod: It has been said that Americans romanticize the family farm, and that if we were really given the choice, we would not want to go back to an agrarian way of life. ES: Well, the family farm has always been a struggling farm, because farmers have not necessarily worked the land in a sustainable, productive way. There has not been a lot of encouragement for farmers to treat the land properly. The idea for a long time was just to get bigger and bigger and become the breadbasket of the Western world. These days, most of the people going into agriculture have no direct agricultural background. They look at all the other options for what you could do with your life, and they see that farming offers the opportunity to be your own boss. Right now, there is also a lot of idealism around having your own farm among young people.
The idea for a long time was just to get bigger and bigger and become the breadbasket of the Western world.	Tripod: Is idealism enough to be a farmer? ES: For most of the farmers I know, a big part of their enjoyment stems from love of the work, that is number one. You are also doing something important, because sustainable agriculture is a rational response to the kind of environmental damage we see going on throughout the world. It is also important for us to do this in order to build community. There has been a complete loss of local community. Tripod: Let's talk more about how you implemented the community supported agriculture model here at Caretaker Farm. ES: A man came to visit us ten years ago, Jean Vanderton. He came to us because we are one of the oldest organic farms in New England. He told us about a concept taking off in Europe and Japan called community supported agriculture. He described it as a movement to gain support for the local farm through the local community. They support each other. We did not take to the idea right away. A farmer friend of ours was convinced and started the first CSA in America along with another farm in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, we were getting burned out marketing to restaurants, being in a truck, being on the road. We were not feeding local people -- instead we were feeding people in cities who didn't care where their food came from. It got to the point where I felt we had to do it. It put a name on what we were trying to do all along. I also thought that if we could create appropriate models of community supported farming where we lived, it would have a powerful ripple effect on encouraging other people to do the same.
Sustainable agriculture is a rational response to the kind of environmental damage we see going on throughout the world.	Tripod: Why does the CSA model benefit both the farmer and the customers? ES: Actually, they are not customers, they are part of the farm. The members give us a base of support at the beginning of each growing season. We are able to buy seeds and prepare for the next season knowing that we are growing food for a community that will eat it. Also, this local group of people knows who we are, knows their farmers. We have a community that we can educate and talk to and they can educate us about what food they want. It is a two way street. We are anxious to please them and they are anxious to see us thrive and do well. Tripod: Is the CSA idea spreading in the United States? ES: There are about 500 CSAs throughout the United States. They tend to spread in clusters. If you look at a map with dots of CSAs, its heavily dotted around Madison, Wisconsin; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and throughout New England. On the West Coast, there are clusters in Oregon and Washington State. There are a couple of clusters in the South, in Pennsylvania. The idea is growing in Virginia and Maryland. Philip Morris is even financing one in Tennessee! Prisons develop them, as well as handicapped communities. Tripod: How do you introduce the CSA idea in a new community? ES: It all boils down to education. We need to get the information out to people about what they are eating, the true cost of the production of that food, and the tremendous savings for supporting local agriculture. Its economical to support a CSA, but it comes up slam-bam against lifestyle. People have difficulty paying for food in advance or relying upon an uncertain harvest. They want their food in neat, convenient packages. Tripod: What does farming teach people about the land? ES: Every time you pull up a carrot you pull something out of the ground. It is like a bank, you can't keep taking without giving. We have to start investing in the earth again. With sustainable agriculture, the principle is to leave the land in better shape than when you found it. When we got this farm, the land was depleted, worn out, and it has taken years to build up its fertility. We now support 130 families on 3 1/2 acres.
When we got this farm, the land was depleted, worn out, and it has taken years to build up its fertility. We now support 130 families on 3 1/2 acres.	Tripod: What do you see as the future for the ideals of local production at the heart of CSA? ES: Right now, we are trying to get Berkshire County to become the first county in the United States to begin restoring its local agriculture. Everybody is saying we've lost community. Wal-Marts are moving in, downtowns are dying, there is a malaise among young people. If we can begin to recenter our communities on food production, on agriculture, I feel that there is tremendous potential to rebuild the social fabric we find lacking in our towns and communities. Tripod: It sounds like you would like to turn back the clock one hundred years. ES: I like to say "step back into the future." Everyone thinks that agriculture, working in soil, is some old-fashioned bygone form of slavery that nobody should ever have to do anymore. We should all be sitting in offices and in clean environments. This seems insane to me. Tripod: Yet gardening is America's number one hobby. ES: Yes, it's true. It is so perfectly obvious that we are all deeply connected to the land whether we know it or not.