Step 3 of 4:

While no farmer is guaranteed that they will have a successful season, we as farmers do what we can to help minimize the risks while turning a profit. As a CSA share holder, you agree to share the risks associated with farming. (See the following pages for a breakdown of some of the risks associated with a CSA and what we are doing to better manage the chances of failure.)

In the past, the farmer took all of the risk associated with this business. They invested their entire life to provide the public with the food needed to survive in hopes of making a fair living. Some farmers made it, but most lost out in the end due to crop failures, tax’s, insurance, increasing cost of living expenses, urban sprawl, etc… Some sold their farms to developers to pay off debts that may have been 2 or 3 generation old. Many farms are auctioned off each year because the farmer just can’t make it any more. With increasing transportation costs, broker fees, and store mark ups the farmer is lucky to see a small fraction of what we pay for our food!

Community Supported Agriculture is a way for the public to share the risks of farming, get the best quality product direct from the farm, and help the farmer to cut out the middleman expenses and reap the profits of their hard work!

To us at JAH’S CREATION, Farming is not an easy lifestyle, but a passionate desire to be at one with nature. We are farming the same land that my great grandfather did! My children are able to see the small field that’s left of the original land from 5 generations ago. I hope that their children can see the same. Our goal is to produce the most nutritious, tasty, fresh organic produce available. To do this, we strive to have a well laid out plan for the future.

RISKS

(These are some risks that a farmer faces each year and a CSA member should be aware!)

TOO MUCH RAIN, NOT ENOUGH RAIN, NOT ENOUGH SUN, TOO MUCH SUN, TOO HOT, TOO COLD, POOR SOIL FERTILITY, WIND DAMAGE, RODENTS, DEER, POOR CROP MANAGEMENT (INSECTS & DISEASE) IMPROPER STORAGE OF HARVESTED PRODUCT, NOT ENOUGH MONEY!

MANAGEMENT OF RISKS

1. TOO MUCH RAIN

2. NOT ENOUGH RAIN — We have automated irrigation systems in our field & our green houses.

3. NOT ENOUGH SUN — We have lights for the propagation of our plants and inject CO2 into the air of 1 green house to stimulate plant growth.

4. TOO MUCH SUN — We use a shade cloth over our green houses and will do the same in the field when we erect our high tunnels.

5. TOO HOT — The shade cloth works great plus we have an exhaust fan in our green house to help draw out heat. We look to eventually put ridge vents and curtains in our green houses.

6. TOO COLD — We have one heated greenhouse and 4 cold frames plus we wish to put up the high tunnels over the field. We also know the seasons and plant our crops accordingly.

7. POOR SOIL FERTILITY — We send out our soil to a lab to be tested for nutrients, work together with a soil nutritionalist and have a custom made fertilizer made for our unique field.

8. WIND DAMAGE — Our fields are protected by natural wind breaks such as trees & hedges. The future construction of high tunnels will help. The plants in our green houses are protected by the structures themselves.

9. RODENTS — We have used traps in the past for our green houses & secured the perimeters of our field with vinyl deer fencing. We placed a short piece of metal fencing (chicken wire) around the bottom of the vinyl deer fencing to stop them from biting their way through the vinyl.)

10. DEER — We have vinyl deer fencing around the field that worked to 100% protection until last summer. This breach in our security was due to the weed eater cutting the bottom of the fencing accidentally. Within a few weeks time the deer devoured a great deal of certain crops. We are currently looking to install the chicken wire around the bottom of the vinyl deer fencing, which will repair the damage that the weed eater did. We will not be getting that close to the fence with our weed eater again!!!!

11. POOR CROP MANAGEMENT — We manage our crops very well! We grow a large variety of crops so that if one fails we have another to fill the void. Good crop rotations, timing cover crop plantings & tilling, resting sections of the field each year so that we do not deplete the soils fertility, scouting the plants on a timely basis so that if we need to hand pick or spray certain crops for damage we can do so effectively, proper plant spacing, applying the correct fertilizer in the proper amounts and times, proper watering, harvesting the crops at the perfect time of ripeness, etc…

12. IMPROPER STORAGE OF HARVESTED PRODUCT — We always try to pick and deliver our produce the same day to local restaurants. We built a small storage cooler that allowed us to pick our crops during the week and store them at the proper temperature to take the field heat off of them and give them the crispness that we come to expect in a store!

13. NOT ENOUGH MONEY — We started our first CSA in 2008! The money that we receive from our members down payment helped us greatly with our start up expenses. This reduced the stress level at the start up of the season & gave us the means to produce a better product than ever before!

Signature Seal

By reading the information above, I, the CSA member, agree that there is a risk in farming. I understand that there is no guarantee for the money that I invest in this 2012 organic produce crop. I do so invest in this CSA crop with my down payment now and the remainder of payments as stated above (where I initialed this agreement) due by the dates stated within this agreement, in anticipation of receiving my weekly box of mixed organic produce delivered to my door, unless otherwise agreed upon by both parties and stated in a change order. I understand that if I am not home to receive the produce between these times that the box of produce will be left at my door step and the obligation of JAH’S CREATION will have been fulfilled for that week. I also agree to leave my old box for JAH’S CREATION to pick up and recycle.