I just read a great article from the Cornucopia Institute entitled How to Choose a Farm Share, but I would have used How to Tell if a CSA is a CSA. The article isn’t about whether or not supporting a CSA would be a good fit for you, it assumes you have made that decision, but helps you to know if the CSA you are looking at is actually a CSA or is something else masquerading as a CSA. This is a very real problem for farmers and I can think of examples of each type of faux CSA that operate in the DC area. I’m not naming names, but I think this article will help you spot them too.

Karl and I own and operate our single farm CSA directly. All communication is through either Karl or myself. We communicate through this blog, our newsletter, e-mail, and making deliveries in person. I even answer the phone sometimes and I always call back. We do require an upfront payment as that provides all of the capital for the upcoming season.  We are local – we are less than 20 miles from Washington, DC and our furthest delivery point is less than 35 miles from our farm.

Source: How to Choose a Farm Share