Double-T Farm | Community Supported Agriculture

I had an exciting day Saturday, starting with picking up my son and my mother at the Train Depot in Cary (they had a quick trip to Charlotte), and ending with meeting Tom Kumpf of the Double-T Farm at the Cary Farmer's Market.

Tom's Double-T Farm operates as a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, farm that grows everything from Asparagus to Zucchini. Similar to a coop, members pay the farmer at the beginning of the season and pick up their seasonal vegetables every week from late April until mid-November. The farmer uses the money to buy all the supplies necessary, and to arrange for labor.

"This helps insulate the farmer from market fluctuations and natural disasters," said Tom. "The CSA concept started in part to help farmers share the risk with their customers rather than living off of insurance/government bailouts."

At the Double-T Farm, people begin joining in January and membership is usually cut off by the end of March. "This allows us to grow just what we need and have very little 'overproduction'," he said. "Operating as a CSA, as a full-time teacher and parent, allows me to spend my time in the field judiciously and allows me to not waste time on produce that might not be sold at weeks end. Everything I grow ends up in my customers bellies." He laughed.

Tom looks forward to feedback from his members, admitting that his system isn't yet perfected. "We constantly work on growing what everyone wants, and educate them about the seasonality of the produce. This year there will be no figs or blueberries because of the Easter freeze. They'll have to make other plans to find these items."

The Double-T Farm has been participating in the Cary Farmer's Market for five years, "partly because the market needs vendors, but also because there is no market in the Garner area," Tom said. "Cary is also a '100% growers only market', unlike the state market in Raleigh, where farmers resell a lot of produce."

Tom's been farming and selling produce in NC for the last five years, and he farmed in NY before moving down south. "I am a non-certified, organic grower," he noted. "With full time teaching, I cannot keep up with the paperwork and documentation required. Besides, our customers visit the farm and see what we do, and the taste of our produce is the ultimate certification. Certification, in my view, is more useful for the 5000-plus acre mega-farms out in California. For example, EarthBound Farms who produces 75% of packaged salads in the entire US farms over 33,000 acres! The USDA system is more suited for that scale than mine."

"We like to grow things based on flavor and taste, not on how well something ships or how long its shelf life is. We are working on adding in fruit, things like Asian pears, pears, berries, figs, peaches, grapes and apples, but we need more land. We're working on a lease for some land a friend owns."

And that's great news, because expanding his produce options and acreage is a sign of success for Tom and the Double-T Farm. By supporting small farms, and local farming families, we're strengthening our community from within. On the one hand, the Double-T Farm is able to diversify crops and expand choices, but on the other, the community is supporting economic growth of a local business. It's a win-win situation.

• Are you a member of a CSA farm or a coop?