WAUSAU DAILY HERALD

December 4, 2006

New model helps family farms last

Community-supported agriculture benefits community, too, farmers say

By Mark Multer
Wausau Daily Herald
mmulter@wdhprint.com

Tony Schultz is bringing an agricultural revolution to his family farm in Athens.

It's a system designed to free small farms from the rule of industrial agriculture and break the chains of the commodity market. And though that might sound like a Marxist treatise for a new rural order, it's actually a practice steeped in principles of the stock market and that fosters a democratic give-and-take between the farm and its local customer base.

In the economic model he's implementing called community-supported agriculture, "shareholders" pledge money in advance to cover the cost of the farm's operations. In return, they receive a share of the produce when crops are harvested. Although the CSA movement is relatively new to the Wausau area, it has been immensely popular for some time in cities such as Madison, where Schultz and his wife and business partner, Kat Becker, both attended the University of Wisconsin.

"I grew up on a dairy farm, and we both became interested in the sustainable organic farming movement," said Schultz, 27, who bought his parents' farm, Stoney Acres, and is reinventing it using the CSA model. "I had always told my parents that I wanted to farm in some way. I just believe in the economic democracy of family farming."

Blaine Tornow, 51, who owns MoonShadow Farm near Little Chicago, began CSA farming about five years ago. Like the vast majority of CSA farmers, Tornow is a certified organic grower.

He said both trends make smaller farms more economically viable.

"(As a consumer), you're putting a chunk of your food dollar in the hands of a local farmer, rather than going to a grocery store every week and patronizing a food conglomerate," said Tornow, who this summer opened Wausau's Downtown Grocery.com with co-owner Kevin Korpela. "The organics is something people are really wanting, so that's where I see the trend going, definitely."

Unlike Schultz, Tornow didn't grow up on a farm. He was a medical ultrasound technician before finding his calling about 16 years ago.

"I just had to get out to get some fresh air and exercise," said Tornow, who has about 150 shareholders for his 80-acre farm. "I probably work twice as hard for half as much, but I have a smile on my face most of the time."

Schultz is working full-time as an English teacher at Newman Catholic High School, while Becker, 27, is an associate lecturer of sociology at UW Marathon County. They expect to obtain organic certification of their 120-acre farm in June. Their goal is to start out with about 50 share families next year, and their five-year plan includes moving beyond vegetables into beef and poultry.

Schultz said the CSA model offers several benefits to those just getting a start in farming. Selling shares gives the farmer working capital up front to buy supplies such as seeds and for paying workers. Selling directly to local consumers allows farmers to avoid having the prices for their goods determined by the volatile commodity market. And the shareholders help absorb the risks of a poor harvest.

"If there's a bad crop, they won't receive as much in their box. If there is an abundant crop, they will receive more," said Schultz, who plans to invite shareholders to planting parties and barn dances at Stoney Acres. "And it helps keep local money in the community; you've got that recycling factor going on.

"That's what I want our society to move toward."