What is a CSA, Buying Club or Herdshare?

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs are usually structured as a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of "shares" of produce from that week's harvest. Some CSAs include dairy and meat products.

A buying club or co-op is a group of people who combine their purchasing power to buy high quality local food at wholesale prices. Buying clubs and co-ops can take many shapes, from a small group of households who combine weekly food orders to retail locations. Growhio lists retail store co-ops in its merchant listings.

Herdshares provide a legal means for consumers, whose states prohibit them from purchasing raw milk products in stores or directly from farmers, to obtain these products. In a herdshare (sometimes called cow share), consumers enter into a share agreement with a farmer and pay a fee to cover boarding, caring and milking for their "share" of the herd. As a share owner, the consumer "owns" a share or part of the herd. When the share owner obtains raw milk products from the farmer, he is not purchasing raw milk products because he is obtaining the products from a herd that he partially owns.

Find one in Northeast Ohio near you!

    GROWHIO LOCAL FOOD GUIDE
    Download our comprehensive guide to local
    food in Northeast Ohio featuring pick your own
    farms, farm stands, CSAs and farmers'
    markets!

Printed copies available for $5.
Purchase copies in bulk for your organization.

✓ = included in share price
$ = available separately for purchase

P = Produce
M = Meat/poultry

D = Dairy
S = Maple syrup

E = Eggs
O = Other

H = Honey

Type	County	Name	Pick-Up		Dates			Pricing		Offerings
Type	County	Name	Locations	Days	Sign Up	Start	End	Single	Family	P	D	E	M	H	S	O
CSA	Ashland	H-W Organic Farms	Cleveland			May	Oct			✓
CSA	Ashland	PJ’s All Natural Farms	Worthington	M, Tu		Jun	Oct	$350	$795	✓		✓
CSA	Ashtabula	Covered Bridge Gardens	multiple	multiple		Jun	Oct	$330	$516	✓
CSA	Ashtabula	Natural Excellence Farm	multiple						$300	✓	✓	✓
CSA	Ashtabula	True Earth Organics	multiple					$400	$400	✓		$	$
CSA	Cuyahoga	Bay Branch Farm	Lakewood						$35/wk	✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	Blue Pike Farm	Cleveland, Shaker Hts.	M, W	6/30	Jun	Oct	$550	$650	✓	✓	✓		✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	City Fresh	multiple	multiple		Jun	Oct	$14/wk	$28/wk	✓					✓	✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	Dean's Greenhouse	Westlake					$270	$540	✓
CSA	Cuayhoga	East Side Veggies	44122	Th		Jun	Oct	$60/4 wks	$100/4 wks	✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	FarmShare Ohio	Tower City	Th		Jun	Nov	$350	$600	✓				$	$	$
CSA	Cuyahoga	Fresh Fork Market	multiple	F, Sa		May	Oct	$550	$880	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	Heart of the City	Cleveland						$700	✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	League Park Market Garden	Cleveland, Shaker					$15/wk	$25/wk	✓		✓				✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	Ohio City Farm	multiple						$500	✓
CSA	Cuyahoga	Swan Farm & Canal Corners	multiple					$290	$550	✓
CSA	Geauga	All the Above Farm	multiple							✓
CSA	Geauga	Art Farm							$350	✓		$	$
CSA	Geauga	Blooming Patches Farm	Newbury			Jun	Oct	NA	$150	✓		$	$			$
CSA	Geauga	Geauga Family Farms	multiple	multiple	5/15	Jun	Oct	$240	$390	✓	$	$	$	$	$	$
CSA	Geauga	Hershey Montessori Farm School	multiple							✓
CSA	Geauga	Maple Star Farm LLC								✓
CSA	Geauga	Maple Valley Sugar Bush
CSA	Geauga	Rock Valley Run						$425	$700	✓		✓		✓		✓
CSA	Geauga	Sirna’s Farm & Market			5/30	Jun	Oct	$250	$400	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
CSA	Huron	The Chef's Garden								✓
CSA	Lorain	Breychaks Blue Egg Farm	on-site	multiple						✓			$	$		$
CSA	Lorain	George Jones Memorial Farm	on-site	T		Jun	Oct			✓	$	✓	$	$		$
CSA	Lorain	Murray Hill Farm	multiple	multiple						✓		✓	$	$	$	$
CSA	Lorain	Pitchfork Farm	multiple					$640	$800	✓
CSA	Medina	Baker’s Fresh Produce	multiple	W, Th, Sa		May	Oct		$500	✓		✓		✓
CSA	Medina	Beriswill Farms	on-site					$250	$500	✓			$
CSA	Medina	Bindel Farm	Spencer						$375	$		✓	✓
CSA	Medina	FreeBird Farms	TBA	TBA		TBA	TBA		TBA	✓		✓
CSA	Medina	Plum Creek Farm	Cleveland, Valley City						$750	✓		✓	✓			✓
CSA	Medina	White House Gardens				Jun	Oct			✓
CSA	Portage	Birdsong Farm	multiple	Tu, Th, Sa	5/1	Jun	Oct	$300	$500	✓
CSA	Portage	Don Anna Farm	multiple	Sa, Su	3/1			$350	$600	✓
CSA	Portage	Edge of Freedom Farm
CSA	Portage	Rootstown Organic Farm
CSA	Portage	Silver Creek Farm	multiple			May		$350	$600	✓
CSA	Stark	Mud Run Farms								✓		✓	✓
CSA	Summit	Basket of Life Farm	on-site	W, Su		Jun	Oct	$300	$560	✓		$
CSA	Summit	Brunty Farms	Akron, Peninsula					$350	$1280	✓		✓	✓			✓
CSA	Summit	Crown Point Ecology Center							$600	✓	$	$				$
CSA	Summit	Gray Fox Farm	Hudson					$275	$550	✓
CSA	Summit	Greenfield Berry Farm				May	Oct			✓
CSA	Summit	Paqarina Farm	Akron					$200	$400	✓
CSA	Trumbull	Miller Livestock Co.	Kinsman						$500	✓	✓	✓	$	✓	✓	✓
CSA	Trumbull	Red Basket Farm	multiple	multiple	6/1	Jun	Oct		$480	✓
CSA	Wayne	Blue Loon Farm	multiple			May	Nov	$450	$600	✓		✓	✓
CSA	Wayne	Katona’s Country Garden	on-site	multiple		May	Oct	$350	$600	✓
CSA	Wayne	Muddy Fork Farm		Tu		May	Sep	$385	$640	✓
CSA	Wayne	Simon Organic Family Farm	on-site	Tu		May	Oct		$600	✓	$	$	$	$		$