Conclusiones

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CSA Administration

Lecture 1: CSA Administration

111

Appendices

1. Example of Shareholder Contact Information

114

2. Example of Shareholder Billing Information

115

3. Example of Financial Report

116

CSA Administration

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Lecture 1: CSA Administration

1. Recruitment, advertisements

2. Correspondence with current membership 3. Billing

4. Information management a) Member contact information b) Distribution of shares

5. Newsletter, website maintenance

B. Time Required for CSA Administration

1. Time varies depending upon complexity of CSA

C. Who Does Administrating?

1. Farmer a) Advantages

i. Opportunity to build relationships with membership through direct contact ii. Possible with small CSAs

b) Disadvantages

i. Often impossible to do both farming and administration of CSA. Can lead to reduced quality of work in both areas, reduced capacity to take on more members and generate revenue/living wage for farmer

ii. Inadequate skills or lack of desire to manage database and accounting, leading to disorganization and dissatisfaction among membership

2. CSA Office Manager

a) Advantage: Dedicated position for managing the communication with members, billing, etc.

i. Frees farmer to focus on growing food

ii. Opportunity to build relationships between CSA Office Manager and members iii. Often necessary with larger CSAs (recommended for CSAs over 200)

iv. Farmer maintains contact via newsletter and special events

v. CSA Office Manager can be the bridge between the farmer/s and member b) Disadvantage: Is there enough money to support this position? (Farmers surveyed

testified that ‘taking the leap’ of hiring someone for this position helped their farm grow and become more financially viable in the long run)

3. Members/Volunteers

a) Advantage: True community support of agriculture by having members actively participate in overall management of the CSA

i. Greater communication, stronger relationships

ii. More sustainable for all by having different jobs covered by the members b) Disadvantage: There can be difficulties if the member(s) or volunteer does not do a

good job, if high-turn over in volunteer/members, can lead to disorganization

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D. Information Management

1. Information management is most often done by the CSA Office Manager, however the Farmer/s would usually be doing it on smaller-scale CSAs and/or for crop planning, harvest, and record keeping

2. Databases or other software can be valuable tools for tracking information about CSA members, production, and distribution activities

3. Software options:

a) FileMaker Pro: The UCSC Farm CSA uses this system to easily track shareholder information, billing, and for printing sign-out sheets

b) Excel: Excel can be a great database tool for financial management as well as for crop planning and record keeping. See: www.cogniview.com/blog/crop-calendars-go-digital-

using-spreadsheets-in-agriculture/

c) Farmigo: The Farmigo System enables CSA members to easily sign-up and pay online for shares as well as an easy way for farms to offer flexible share options. There is also a web store where farms can choose to sell excess items or optional items to be delivered with the share. In addition to member sign-ups and management, the system also helps farms manage the logistics associated with harvesting, packing and delivering shares. It costs 2% of gross sales from the CSA or farm. See: www.farmigo.com

d) CSA Toolbox is an online “toolbox” that offers programs to communicate with your customers, do your paperwork, handle your billing, and take payments. See: www.

csatoolbox.com

e) CSAware is a customizable, user-friendly Community Supported Agriculture software from LocalHarvest.com designed for CSAs with lots of moving parts. The cost is 2% of sales. See: csaware.com

4. What data need to be tracked?

a) Contact information (see Appendix 1, Example of Shareholder Contact Information) i. Name, address, phone numbers, email address

ii. Type of share (whole share, half share, etc.) iii. Pick-up site and day

iv. Length of membership v. Shareholder list

b) Billing and payment tracking (see Appendix 2, Example of Shareholder Billing Information, and Appendix 3, Example of Financial Report)

i. Type of payment (payment in full, installments, monthly) • When that person paid/when late

ii. Post-dated checks

iii. Low-income share, complimentary, or work trade iv. Billing list

v. Payment reminders (calls, emails) 5. Crop Planning, Harvest, and Packing schedules

6. Sign-out sheets for tracking pick-up for drop-off locations (in order to track who didn’t pick up)

E. Distribution of Shares

1. Types of distribution a) On-farm pick-up models

i. Already packed in boxes for people to pick up

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ii. “Farmers’ Market Style,” with produce displayed on table and consumers weigh and pack their own boxes

2. Off-farm pick-up models

a) Consumer picks up packed boxes at farmers’ markets

b) Grower drops boxes at different pick-up sites (churches, homes, work sites, schools, etc.) where consumers can pick up during a several-hour window

c) Grower produces and ships in bulk to urban distribution hub. Members pack and redistribute to neighborhood clusters, where members rotate pack and distribution responsibilities.

3. Things to consider in both on- and off-farm pick-up cases: a) Where will people park?

b) How will this affect the neighborhood (traffic, noise, etc.)?

c) Set up, monitoring, breaking down (will someone be there the whole time?)

d) Surplus and Exchange tables (have a trade basket so folks can leave what they won’t eat and perhaps trade in for something they like better)

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