Food is shared. The tools should be too.

Community-supported agriculture is a partnership where members pay in advance for a share of the season's food, and share both the harvest and the risk with the people who grow it.¹ Growers get a predictable income. Members get food straight from the soil, and a community around it.

It comes in many forms. Some CSAs employ a grower, others partner with a farm. In allotment gardens, everyone grows their own plot on shared land. In food co-ops, a volunteer board buys food together from local producers. What they all share is a community around food, and that much of the work rests on volunteers.

Behind every season, though, lies work that rarely shows. Member lists in spreadsheets, harvest updates by email, breaks and pick-up points in social media threads, volunteer rotas on paper. Much of it lands on a few people: the grower, the board, or the same enthusiasts who always turn up to help.

The CSAs that have grown show that the model works. Those that have closed show that it is fragile. In an evaluation, respondents named recruiting members as the biggest challenge ahead.³ When admin takes up the time, it's the community that loses.

The food system has big problems. It accounts for about a third of the world's human-made greenhouse gas emissions.⁴ Almost a fifth of the food available to consumers is thrown away, on top of the 13 percent lost earlier in the supply chain.⁵ We don't believe one tool can fix that.

But we believe in the local. Many good local food systems add up to a better food system. Community-supported agriculture is one of the most proven models we have: a short path from field to table, shared risk and a community around food. In 2015, Europe was estimated to have around 2,800 CSAs, with almost half a million participants.⁶

“Technology should give time back to the soil and to each other, not take it.”

That's why we build tools that lighten the admin, and leave the rest human.

1. i.Each CSA decides for itself how it is run.Copy link
2. ii.A CSA's data belongs to the CSA. We never sell it.Copy link
3. iii.The tool should take work away, not add to it.Copy link
4. iv.We build with the people who grow and run CSAs, not for them.Copy link
5. v.We are open about money, ownership and who is behind it.Copy link
6. vi.The people who use the tool should eventually own it.Copy link

Farmpit is a web app for community-supported agriculture in all its forms, from CSAs with a grower to allotments and co-ops. In the pilot we focus on the weekly running of the season:

1. 1.Harvest update. Whoever grows or buys in says what's ready this week, and members find it in one place.
2. 2.Pick-up and breaks. Members choose a pick-up point and say when they're skipping a week.
3. 3.Packing list. The list is built from the harvest update, leaving out those on a break.
4. 4.Volunteer days. Shifts, sign-ups and an overview of who has contributed.

After that come sign-ups and waiting lists, payment and renewal. We'll decide the order together with the pilot farms.

In the longer term we want to support more forms of local food distribution, such as REKO rings and farmers' markets. We take one step at a time, starting with community-supported agriculture in Norway.

A CSA has several roles, and each has its own everyday reality.

Farmpit is a project of Irenge Kazonza Consulting ENK, which is the responsible company. Farmpit is not a company in its own right.

The goal is to organise Farmpit as a cooperative once the pilot is complete. The CSAs that use the tool will then become co-owners, with a real say. We'll decide how together with the pilot farms.

Responsible

Irenge Kazonza Consulting ENK

Status

Pilot, 2027 season

Org. no.

933 029 395

Contact

hei@farmpit.no