Farm to Breakroom: Workplace-Based Community Supported Agriculture

I recently authored a blog all about growing wellness at the farmers market, which led me down a rabbit hole and introduced me to the wonderful world of Community Supported Agriculture. This innovative model allows community members to regularly access fresh, locally grown produce throughout the season with prepayment and an easy delivery or pick-up service. As it turns out, individuals like me aren’t the only ones interested; employers are getting in on the action, too.

What Is It?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is cultivated when a community of individuals pledge to support a farm operation, in which the growers and consumers provide each other support and share in the benefits of food production. In most CSAs, members purchase a share from the farmer and in return receive regular installments of food for the duration of the season. Some farmers offer “sweat equity” discounts on membership, allowing participants to reduce or eliminate their fee by working manual labor hours on the farm. While many of these operations are limited to produce, others offer eggs, meat, milk, cheese and even some prepared foods. There are also a growing number of community supported fisheries (CSFs) for seafood on the coasts.

Workplace-based CSAs operate in a similar manner. Employees can sign up as a group, and the farmer delivers boxes of fresh produce directly to the place of business for convenient pickup. Data from the USDA indicates that 7,244 farms in the United States sold products directly to consumers through CSAs in 2020 alone.

Bountiful Benefits

There are numerous benefits to participating in a CSA, either individually or as part of a workplace program.

Healthy Eating

Forming a relationship with a CSA farm helps you to eat healthily while also supporting the local economy. With fresh, locally grown food delivered straight to the workplace, there is a very low barrier for employees to improve their eating habits and increase consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Food Literacy

With CSAs, you don’t always know exactly what you’re going to get in your box each week. This means there will be times you end up with foods you’ve never tried or may not have heard of. This is an excellent opportunity to improve food literacy as you learn to utilize the produce you are given. Many CSAs create newsletters or recipe books with ideas for how to cook with the produce you receive!

Building Community

Nothing brings people together like food. Participating in a CSA program is a great way to meet neighbors, engage with local producers and better get to know your colleagues. Connect through unpacking weekly shipments, swapping produce and sharing recipes. Your organization can encourage this community connection by holding a CSA potluck or organizing a visit to the farm.

Financial Savings

With produce provided by CSAs, participants will spend less time at the supermarket—and therefore have less opportunity for impulse purchases. Some CSAs are also eligible for wellness incentives/rebates from a company’s health insurer or use payroll deductions or stipends to reduce the upfront cost of participation.

Employer Considerations

Offering a workplace CSA program is a low-cost way of contributing to employee well-being and environmental sustainability. This can be considered part of your organization’s benefits package, with partial subsidization as a tactic to help drive participation. You can also offer nonfinancial incentives, such as a free cookbook, team-building potluck lunches, cooking/food preservation demos or farm visits.

Hospitals are the primary users of workplace CSAs, but plenty of other businesses make strong candidates. As a likely small percentage of the total workforce will choose to participate, larger employers tend to have more success with CSAs overall.

Before implementing a workplace CSA at your organization, consider who on staff could be a champion of the program. Who will handle farmer relationship-building, logistics and internal marketing? It’s best if this person is involved with human resources or in a leadership role to ensure continued employer buy-in.

Additional Resources

Community Supported Agriculture (USDA)

Community Supported Agriculture (foodprint.org)

Farm-to-Worksite Programs Promote Healthier Eating (SHRM)

Workplace CSA (CSA Coalition)

Workplace CSAs (ASAP Connections)

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  Rebecca Plier

  PR/Communications Specialist

  IFEBP

  Favorite Foundation Product: The Talking Benefits podcast! What an engaging way to get timely benefits insights.

  Benefits-related Topics that Interest Her Most: Mental health, diversity, equity and inclusion, and workplace wellness.

  Personal Insight: When Rebecca isn’t diving headfirst into the world of benefits, she enjoys organizing her monthly book club and expanding her vinyl record collection.