All hands to the plough

Autumn: a season of abundance, when the fruits of the agricultural year are harvested, gathered and celebrated. September has traditionally been a time when our village halls, schools, churches, greens and pubs have hosted a wholesome display of prize courgettes, plump pumpkins, sacks of spuds and bushels of corn in a feast of thanksgiving. Today, however, the evocative harvest festival is just as likely to serve as an uncomfortable reminder of that new watchword ‘food insecurity’, rising prices and just how dislocated we have become from local,seasonal produce.

There are obviously exceptions. If you’re a celebrity chef or an ethical consumer you may well enjoy the warm glow of self-satisfaction that comes from joining the latest lifestyle crusade; you may even make some effort to buy seasonal and local produce, as and when it’s convenient. If, on the other hand, you happen to be a member of one of the 30 or so CSA schemes currently operating across the UK, quite simply you won’t be afforded the luxury of becoming dislocated from your food. 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a term used loosely to describe a relatively new model of farming, pioneered in Japan, Germany...

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