Community-supported agriculture growing in Ky.

Kentucky has seen community-supported agriculture thrive, thanks in part to its "near-perfect environment" of rural areas and metropolitan areas, says a sustainable agriculture lecturer at the University of Kentucky. Mark Keating says Kentucky has approximately 35 CSA partnersships, though it started in the state only five years ago.

"Community-supported agriculture is a subscription-based program where consumers buy 'shares' in a farm's output," writes Carol Spence for UK's College of Agriculture. "This entitles them to season-long regular deliveries of freshly harvested produce or other farm products, such as meat or dairy products." They can range from large-scale operations, pooling produce from a number of farms, to small ones drawing from one farm. (UK photo)

Since CSAs tend to crop up in urban areas, they provide an opportunity to bridge the urban-rural divide. "It's such a personal thing, and yet it's such a communal thing," says Keating. "The degree to which customers will support their farmer and the length they will go to support the farmer is really exceptional." (Read more)