Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

[Guest guest]

Dandavad. Prabhupada kijaya!

 

I have been absent from this conference for a few months and have just

caught up with the backlog of texts. I am encouraged by your determination

to prepare a project document outlining practical steps towards rejuvenating

ISKCON associated rural community development.

 

Last July I relocated my family to Alachua, FL , although I still work with

Mayapur Project from a distance and will be returning there soon for 5-6

weeks. If Lord CHaitanya permits I will be about 3-4 months a year in

Mayapur and the rest of the time in Alachua.

 

I have joined a small group of devotees here who are trying to take the cow

protection program here to a new level. Our plan is two fold:

 

1) First is to establish a permanent ISKCON Goraksha Trust, with current and

future cows as the legal benficiaries of the trust. This trust would have

legal control over sufficient current ISKCON property to guarantee their

livelihood. The land would remain the property of ISKCON but would be

encumbered in this way so that it could not be sold without the permission

of the trustees. The trustees would be bound to act in the best interests of

the named beneficiaries - the cows.

 

This trust would also raise donations for expanding land holdings, etc. for

the benefit of the cows.

 

IN the future this trust could also control other land that might be owned

by devotee farmers who want to produce "certified protected cow products"

(Marks's idea).

 

2) Secondly we want to develop a community supported agriculture model for

farming both on ISKCON land and nearby devotee owned land with ISKCON. This

CSA model has been successful around the country, though I do not know of

any such projects that use ox-power.

 

The basic model is for a group of people to invest in the production of a

farmer. The farmer is essentially selling shares in his future production.

The average CSA has about 100 members contributing about $500 each. The

members then receive the produce of the farm every week. Studies have shown

that these farms provide fresh, organic produce to the members at lower-than

market prices.

 

In our case, we will develop a business model for ox-powered cultivation and

protected-cow milk production. We will then invite devotees, vegetarians

from Gainesville, etc. to invest as shareholders.

 

The model will include reasonable income for the farmers who do the actual

work.

 

IN order for this to work, the cows and bulls that are engaged in this

program would have to be protected by the trust, which would control

sufficient land for guaranteeing their protection.

 

One way to look at this is that we are asking ISKCON (which represents the

brahmanical section) to give authority over its land to the Trust

(representing ksatriyas) who would then engage farmers (vaisyas) to make it

productive.

 

There are several devotees here who have expressed interest in farming for

their livelihood and there is a lot of land both in ISKCON and in private

devotee holdings that could be used.

 

However, this model is not aimed at jumping straight to self-reliance and

living exclusively from the land. It is more of an intermediate stage.

 

I believe this CSA approach may be the most practical way to start

commercially viable protected cow farming. It avoids the hassles of trying

to break into the supermarket distribution system and all the regulations,

etc. since the products are not actually "sold" but given as dividends to

the investors.

 

And, it has the added benefit of supporting local community economies.

 

I encourage you to look up "community supported agriculture" on the web. One

good site is http://www.umass.edu/umext/csa. They have a list of printed

materials which I will be ordering from and I can share with you.

 

Although I may not have time to post to this conference frequently, I would

like your feedback on our directions here.

 

Your servant,

Pancaratna das