Transition Omagh Community Supported Agriculture Project.

Community Supported Agriculture is a way by which local communities can access locally produced food and have a say in what is produced and how it is produced. For example, there is a very successful CSA scheme in Stroud which has been running for 10 years where the local community (200 families within a 5 mile radius of the farm) have bought the farm and now pay 5 farmers to run it. The farmers are earning £18-20K per year, the families get meat, veg and dairy products on a weekly basis by making a one off payment at the beginning and then paying £30-£40 per week. Community members can also contribute their labour as a cost in kind if they can't afford all of the weekly payments, so everyone wins. There are all sorts of models and the key is to find one that suits the local community.

Transition Omagh has a small amount of funding for the CSA project.

As a first step, a video conferencing session has been set up with Amanda Daniel of the Soil Association ( Information & Marketing Co-ordinator for CSA and Organic Buying Groups) and Jade Bashford (Regional Co-ordinator) who was involved in setting up Stroud CSA:

Technology Centre (opposite Dunnes Stores and the Library) 11 February 2010 12 noon - 1.00pm (tea/coffee/scones available from 11.30am at £1.20 per head)
Omagh
Parking is available at the Centre - let staff know through the buzzer at the barrier why you are there.

Also, Amanda and Jade would like a list of questions in advance so they can prepare for the session. So, if you would like to come along, please let me know as soon as possible (and include your questions/queries for Amanda and Jade) as I need to advise the Technology Centre of numbers for catering and the conference session. Thank you.

Best wishes

Katie Rutledge
Tel: 075 9021 0180 (0044 75 9021 0180 from RoI)