The 607 CSA has a new pick up location, right here at City Tech!
CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture. At the core, CSAs are one way local farmers can bring their goods directly to customers, often at a lower cost. The relationship is symbiotic, as CSAs are subscription based and typically paid for in a lump sum. This allows farmers to funnel those funds into supplying subscribers who are in turn guaranteed top quality produce, brought nearly to their doorsteps.
In Brooklyn, CSAs are still riding the wave of a recent resurgence. Driven, certainly, by the Covid-19 pandemic, but they have also historically been a way to support communities without sufficient options for fresh produce and high-quality meat and pantry staples. Many of the boroughs poorest, but most populous, neighborhoods are not on the radar of large grocery store chains and are usually far beyond the reach of farmers markets. We discussed this here in a previous blog post.
Though City Tech is located in bustling downtown Brooklyn, adjacent neighborhoods are still, technically, food deserts. The 607 CSA (and others) has been addressing this for years, with pick up locations dotted around Brooklyn’s landscape. Adding this new stop – available to our own faculty, staff and students – adds to efforts to close the fresh food gap. This model is particularly wonderful as the initial outlay of funds to join CSAs can be prohibitive for those most in need. The 607 allows you to pay per week, removing a barrier to access.
Students, staff and faculty can purchase weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly vegetable shares for pick-up on Tuesdays, 10-12:30pm. Please take a moment to complete this brief interest survey to get a better sense of our college community’s needs: https://forms.gle/1jWmfDL3hsP6Zr557
If you have questions, please contact Amanda Almond @ AAlmond@citytech.cuny.edu who will assist you on behalf of the Green Team.
The Green Team Members
Amanda Almond, Associate Professor of Psychology
Sean MacDonald, Associate Professor of Economics
Robert Walljasper, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management
