CFSA Helps Small Farmers Succeed
And, you can, too – with a gift to CFSA this year-end.
Please read on to learn why Daniel Parson, an organic farmer from Clinton, SC, supports us, and why you should, too!
Daniel Parson and family
Dear Friends,
I took up sustainable farming in 1998, before the local food movement took off. I was working on a farm in rural Georgia where all of my neighbors were farming conventionally. It wasn’t until I went to my first CFSA Conference that I felt like I was part of a movement; that there were other people out there who were as passionate about this as I was.
CFSA has been with me ever since – they’ve been the ones pushing this movement forward in the Carolinas and across the country. Providing sustainable agriculture research and education, assisting new farmers, connecting families through farm tours. Working on our behalf to level the playing field. Big ag has the money to advocate for their way of growing, but CFSA looks out for small, sustainable farmers. And CFSA steps in to fill key missing pieces that help small farms like mine succeed – like spinning off one of the only wholesale organic distributors on the east coast – Eastern Carolina Organics (ECO) – and incubating Carolina Ground, one of the most innovative seed-to-fork projects happening anywhere in the country. These critical pieces of the puzzle are what makes local food work in the Carolinas – and it’s only made possible with the help of folks like you.
If you want good food and farms in your community that support the environment and the local economy, yes, shop at the farmers’ market. Yes, buy from your farmers. But supporting CFSA is just as important. I hope you will join me in making a gift to CFSA this year end.
Your support is more important than ever. The old system may be feeding lots of people now, but it is not sustainable. I farm sustainably because I love farming; I wouldn’t be doing conventional agriculture. My son, Benjamin, is a picky eater – like most 2 year olds – but if I pick something out in the field and give it to him, he’ll eat it: spicy radishes, kohlrabi, turnips. Unlike conventional farmers and farmworkers, I don’t have to think about whether that is safe or covered in chemicals.
I don’t want to be spraying for my own health, for my son’s, and for the environment. I don’t have to change clothes and shower before I can hug my kid at the end of the day.
If you support small, sustainable family farms like mine, CFSA is the organization that helps our farms thrive.
Please make your tax-deductible gift to support local, sustainable agriculture today. Go to CFSA’s secure online store and click on the ‘Donate to CFSA’ button or call the CFSA office at 919-542-2402. Either way, your gift to CFSA is one of the best ways you can support local farmers and champion a food system that is good for farms and farmworkers, healthy for our families, and nurturing to our land.
Sincerely,
Daniel Parson
Parson Produce