New!
We have just introduced a new online ordering system. You can now order your shares from a single web order form. Simply go to the Orders page to order all share types for all seasons! You can also create an account and login to update/check your info, orders, and balance owing. If you have any questions or need more information about the new order form, please contact us at info@planborganicfarms.ca.
What is CSA?
Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) is a system of growing and distributing organic produce that restores the link between the farmers and city dwellers. Successful in Japan and Western Europe since 1965, CSA today operates on approximately 1000 farms in North America.
In early spring each year, local households purchase subscription "shares" of the year's harvest from a local organic farm. CSA "shareholders" pay for their produce at the beginning of the growing season, providing the necessary start-up capital for farmers to purchase seeds, supplies and soil amendments, eliminating their reliance on expensive bank loans and helping to pay for the real cost of food.
Plan B Organic Farms is a "multi-farm CSA"
This means that we grow and source the best certified organic produce from 12 farms in Southern Ontario for your shares each week. For you, our shareholders, this means a greater variety of foods in your share each week from many of the best organic growers in the province!
5 Great Things about CSA?
- Provides local farmers with an economically viable farm business
- Consumers gain access to affordable, fresh, & local organic foods
- Consumers learn about what grows in Ontario and how to “eat seasonally”
- Strengthens the local economy and builds community
- Less transportation & packaging makes for a healthier local environment
Who is Plan B?
Plan B Organic Farm was established in 1997 by Rodrigo Venturelli, Alvaro Venturelli and Melanie Golba. This will be our 13th season growing organic produce here at our 50 acre farm in Flamborough. Our farm is Certified Organic by OCCP-Pro-Cert Canada.
We are committed to:
Growing delicious, high quality vegetables, herbs, and fruits using organic farming methods that are in harmony with our environment.
Providing accessible, affordable, and freshly harvested organic produce to households in our region.
Working in partnership with other local organic farmers to reliably provide our shareholders with the variety of crops that our region offers.
Creating a place where our community can come to learn about organic farming, the source of our food, and the natural cycles of our bioregion.
What is a summer share?
A share is a box of local, certified organic, vegetables, salad greens, herbs, and occasionally fruit every week for our 18 week harvest season.
Shares come in 3 sizes, Half, Regular, & Household.
Fruit Shares come in one size, 3-5 items each week of certified organic, LOCAL and IMPORTED fruit. Local seasonal fruit will take priority in this share but it is not available at all at some times in the season. We hope our fruit share will help to build capacity for local fruit farmers so hopefully, in future, it will be all local.
A share also includes a subscription to our weekly e-news with recipes, and an invitation to our Farm Day Celebration in September.
Why eat organic food?
Organic farmers are stewards of the land who preserve the quality of the soil and water for future generations. Organic produce is grown using methods that promote soil fertility and a healthy farm ecosystem.
No herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, synthetic fertilizers, or genetically modified organisms are used during the farming process or added to the food.
Organic farming practices are safe
Pests are controlled through crop rotation, physical removal, and biological controls.
Weeds are controlled by hand hoeing and mechanical cultivation.
Fertility and soil structure are maintained through the introduction of organic matter, such as compost, and cover crops. Micro-organisms from this matter also break down minerals in the soil so that plants can absorb them and grow to be strong and healthy.
Organic food is healthy
Organic farming practices leave no toxic residues on your food! They do not pollute the air, water, or soil of your community, leaving the environment a healthy place for humans, animals, and plants to live.
Fresh organic produce is delicious
Field ripened and freshly picked local organic produce is healthier because it contains more nutrients. Our produce goes right from the field to you, so there is no need for dangerous practices such as irradiation, and gassing are not needed to ripen it or keep it fresh. We harvest most of the produce the day before you receive it!