CSA Farmers: Paper, Plastic or Reusable Marketing Tool?

If you are a farmer operating a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, what type of packaging do you use to distribute your weekly shares? We’ve seen farmers use produce boxes, paper bags, plastic bags, biodegradable bags and reusable totes. It’s important to select a form of packaging that works for you and is acceptable to your customer. Many CSA members are not only knowledgeable about food, but are also informed about environmental concerns and may frown upon using disposable or non-recyclable containers. Your customers may look upon you more favorably if you distribute their weekly share in a reusable box. The downside to this type of package is that you may end up watch-dogging customers to return the boxes so that you can re-use them. Of course, packaging cost also plays a factor and should be considered and incorporated into the seasonal cost of members’ shares. At Eat Local Food, we recommend you get the most cost benefit from your CSA share container by customizing it with your name and contact information – your customers become walking billboards for your farm!

Several of our CSA Farm customers are now offering Eat Local Food reusable market bags to their members. Veggie Ventures in Donnellson, Iowa gave each CSA member a bag filled with their first share of the 2008 season. Veggie Ventures incorporated the cost of the customized market bag into the season's share price, recouping the cost of their packaging and some advertising. Another customer, Lori Brown of Farmstead of Charlotte Hall in Maryland relayed this story about their success in offering a reusable bag to customers:

"We had the tote bags filled with vegetables for our CSA members to pick up at the local farmer's market and other market customers came by, loved the bags and wanted to buy them. Many market customers, once they saw the bags filled with vegetables, asked about signing up for our CSA--the tote bags turned out to be great promotion for our CSA. Members really like the totes because they hold a lot of vegetables and are easy to carry home. The beet design is a real eye catcher and gets rave reviews--a wonderful way to promote buy local."

Michelle and Danny Lutz of Maple Creek Organic Farm will be celebrating their 15th year of organic farming in 2009. They will be offering an Eat Local Food market bag as a gift to the first 100 members, and the bag will be customized with their name and logo to commemorate their 15th anniversary.

Other customer ideas include offering a customized reusable bag as incentive for returning CSA members, as fund-raisers at farm tours, and as an eco-friendly add-on sale at their weekly farmers market.

Whichever type of packaging you choose for your farm shares, you should consider your cost, your time, your customers and the environment. Our reusable cotton market bags are made in the USA and are washable. If you opt to use a reusable bag, please consider these factors before making your selection. Many reusable bags currently on the market are not made in the USA and they are manufactured from petroleum based products that are not recyclable.