I know I talk about this often – but it’s because I think it is so important. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are a great way for a community to support a local farmer or grower. A CSA program also allows the farmer to provide locally grown items for the community that supports them. Often, CSA’s let members purchase weekly or bi-weekly bags of fresh produce. The purchaser pays upfront and takes part of the risk with the farmer. If it’s a great season, you will have more than you can eat. If there happens to be a drought or tornadic activity, you may receive less. Even with the risk, the idea of receiving locally grown, natural produce and other items is pretty difficult to pass up.
Listed here are CSA opportunities in the Wichita, KS area. If you are outside of Wichita, use a search engine and type in CSA. You may be surprised at what pops up. Each program works a bit differently, so do research, ask questions, and find the one that fits your needs. Let’s all work together to support local farmers and growers and create healthy eating environments for ourselves and our families.
MG Honor Farms: MG Honor Farms is located in Cheney, KS and was created to give members an option to purchase healthy food for themselves and their families without any herbicides and only organically certified pesticides. They have a meat program, balsamic vinegar, and honey available too! They make deliveries.
Fiat Farms: Fiat Farms is a sustainable farm located in southwestern Kingman County, serving the South Central Kansas area, specifically Wichita, KS, Kingman, KS, Pratt, KS, and Cunningham, KS. The farm currently features a 23 week CSA of vegetables and melons, with hopes to expand to other fruits, meat, and eggs in the future. Fiat Farms has a drop off point in the Riverside area where customers can make pick-ups.
Schenker Family Farms: This is a meat CSA provided by a farm that is certified naturally grown and animal welfare approved. Talk about options! You can choose the type of share you would like (full share, 3/4 share, 1/2 share or 1/4 share). You also have a choice about the product: would you like beef only, pork only, beef and pork, or beef, pork and lamb? It’s up to you. You can also add-on poultry or gill packs to your CSA subscription.
Morning Harvest Farms: The Morning Harvest Farms CSA appears to be very flexible and has three interesting differences from other CSA opportunities I’ve seen previously. First, you select the products, second there is no end to the season (although, at parts of the season eggs are the only option) and third, you determine how often you receive a box and if it’s delivered or picked up at the farm. 
Some of these farmers may also be found selling items at public farmers markets in the area. Please check out their websites and take a look. CSA’s are a great concept that we should support and help spread the word!
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