FARMINGTON -- Great Salt Lake Re-source Conservation and Development will be conducting a Community Supported Agriculture open house Feb. 21 at the the Davis County Courthouse, 28 East State Street in Farmington. The event will run 7-8:30 p.m. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), according to Great Salt Lake RC&D spokesperson Alison Rogers, connects local community members with locally grown food. The free open house will teach residents how to receive weekly deliveries of locally gown produce. "It encourages urban and rural citizens to share responsibility for the land where their food is grown and how it is produced," said Rogers, "while helping farmers earn a more equitable return for their labor and relieves the burdens and uncertainties of conventional marketing.

"The partnership of CSA is twofold," she said. "Members of the local community pay a fee at the beginning of the growing season to meet a farm's operating expenses for the upcoming season. In return, these members or shareholders receive a portion of the farm's produce each week through the growing season. Everyone benefits."

The essence of the CSA concept, which began in the early 1960s in Germany, Switzerland and Japan, is that farmers and consumers share in the risks and benefits of farming.

In conventional agriculture, farmers bear the risks of weather, pests and the market place. These risks are so great, Rogers asserted, they contribute to the national decline in agriculture.

In Community Supported Agriculture, however, the entire farm community shares both bounty and scarcity. The cooperation provides financial security to the unpredictable nature of farming and allows the community to obtain fresh, locally grown food, while gaining a closer connection to their food, their land and local agriculture.

Typically family-operated, CSA farms range from 3-300 acres and provide food for 10 to more than 200 households. Participating farms produce a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits plus meat, eggs, honey and other agricultural products. Some CSA farms provide food for up to eight months of the year by making successive plant-ings and using greenhouses and root cellars to extend the seasons.

Further, many of the farms host field days, produce newsletters and hold workshops that educate their shareholders about sustainable farming and healthy food choices.

Some of the CSAs rely on member volunteers to work on the farms. These volunteers enable farmers to focus on producing food and caring for the land.

"Many of the CSA farms rely on a 'core group' of committed volunteers," said Rogers, "who help manage distribution sites, plan the harvest and recruit new members."

Davis County is home to a pair of CSA farm locations. They include Borski Farms, operated by John Borski, 251 W. 100 South in Kaysville (546-5221, borskifarms@borski

farms.org or www.borskifarms.

org) and East Farms, run by Jeremy East, 410 Canvasback Lane in West Point (298-5669, shayeast@msn.com or www.east

farms.net).

Anyone interested in locally grown farm products is encouraged to attend the Feb. 21 open house. Contact Rog-ers, (801) 263-3204, ext 104 for additional information or visit www.greatsaltlakercd.org.

bmickelson@davisclipper.com