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By John Finnerty, The (Sunbury) Daily Item

Last updated: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 10:22 AM EDT

LEWISBURG — As Joe Detelj sat at his kitchen table, his wife, Jackie, rinsed dirt off eggs from the free-range chickens on their small farm, then hurried over to a desk and pulled out a note to a customer of their community-supported agriculture venture.

Scrawled at the bottom of the note, written by her husband, was: “Be the change you want to see in the world,” a quote from Gandhi that neatly sums up their farming philosophy.

The change the couple would like to see is a shift away from large farms designed to provide tremendous quantities of food as cheaply as possibly and toward a system where smaller farms provide tastier, healthier foods.

On what used to be a cornfield, the Deteljes have built their home, added a few outbuildings and planted rotating crops of a variety of fruits and crops that this year will be sold to members who subscribe to the community-supported agriculture venture. Previously, the Deteljes had direct-marketed their produce, selling to local restaurants and others.

3rd subscription farm

With the switch to a community supported-agriculture business plan, they became at least the third farm in the Central Susquehanna Valley to offer subscription plans in which customers pay a set fee in exchange for a share of the crops harvested on the farm.

The customer shares the risk, if a crop is a bust; if it’s a bountiful year, then the customers get that much more bang for their bucks.

The arrangement has practical benefits for the farmers. They get money from the customers upfront instead of having to wait to sell their crops at whatever price they will command, said Amanda Burbage, a community planner at SEDA-Council of Governments who has been active in marketing efforts to promote local food producers.

For customers, the arrangement offers more than just a steady stream of fruits and vegetables throughout the growing season. It also offers the satisfaction of knowing that their food dollars are going to a farmer they know, said Matt Shaffer of RR Sunbury, who’s been selling his crops to customers through a CSA arrangement for five years. He started with three subscribers and had as many as 16, Shaffer said.

With more people becoming interested in environmental-friendly practices, the ability to buy food locally avoids the burning of fossil fuels used to truck produce from growing areas across the country or from other areas of the globe, Shaffer said.

His subscribers can either pick up the produce at his farm or at Ard’s Farm Market, near Lewisburg.

“If I’m taking (produce) to Ard’s, it’s going 17 miles,” he said.

Comparable cost

And because the farmer has lower operating costs by using the CSA business plan, the cost to customers ends up being about what they would pay for the organic produce coming from larger farms that typically ends up in the coolers of grocery stores, Shaffer said.

Both Detelj and Shaffer said that marketing directly to consumers allows them to focus on following the practices they feel are important.

Shaffer said farming, and in particular, organic-style farming, with its focus on natural methods of soil improvement and the use of beneficial insects for pest control, “gives me a greater appreciation for God.”

Detelj said subscribers are not only welcome to visit and quiz him, they are also welcome to come, roll up their sleeves and help out on the farm.

That suggestion might seem odd to many, but Detelj said, “It’s a different thing when it’s a labor of love.”