e.g. I write a LONG newsletter to my customers every month, telling them about events on ‘their’ farm, and a bunch of other stuff.

In return I have received great family recipes, cures for garden problems, notice of great books, articles and websites, invitations to special events, and the opportunity to participate in cool ‘eco’ projects e.g. I’m currently providing veggie-growing advice to an engineer and an architect who are building a ‘net-zero’ home that will also produce its own food.

I have connected one of my customers (a bookkeeper) with another that owned a company that needed her services. I have made similar connection between the owner of an alternative energy company and the owner of a business that wanted solar hot water, both of whom were my customers.

I have asked my customers to help me find farm workers. One of them, a high school teacher, sent me two excellent young men that turned out to be great summer farm help.

And I have had hundreds of interesting, stimulating conversations with my customers, that you just can’t put a price on.

Our customers have lives and interests beyond the transaction we are primarily engaged in. The power of a CSA is in letting you see a little bit of their other life, and perhaps engaging in it to mutual benefit.

As you referenced in your reply, connecting ‘city folk’ with farmer’s markets, the CSA model, I think, allows for an even more efficient method of passing on the knowledge to make that connection. Harnessing the developed personal relationships you can really let people into the process of food production—maybe even a personal touch, “here’s a photo of YOUR head of cabbage at week 2!” Knowing how something was made, what it takes every step of the way, backs up the value proposition.

Another example, somewhere on my site I do a comparison between our first year market garden and a friend’s very similar garden she grew a year later. Despite growing much of the same stuff, in the same way (she actually worked for us to learn how), in a garden just about the same size, we had sales more than double her’s, primarily because we went CSA and ‘locked-in’ our customers, and she sold at market.

Is there a need for farmers markets, and should new growers consider them? Sure. Anything that connects ‘city folk’ back to where their food really comes from is a good thing. And in fact we occasionally send some overflow produce to a market with a neighboring grower. But our centerpiece marketing model will probably always be CSA for the reasons given.