It was harvest time, but not as we know it. Sheep's Head farmer Dennis Holland strolled down to his lower field, ripe with oats, to meet 20 strangers ready to gather the crop.

It was the first oat harvest for the Bantry CSA, or community supported agriculture scheme, and the CSA members were keen to help out, learn about scything and have a bit of fun in the process.

CSAs are popular in Germany, the US, Japan and elsewhere. They started in Japan in the 1960s when consumers became concerned about the quality of their food. Since then thousands have been set up worldwide, but it is only in the last year they have made an appearance in Ireland.

The first started in the Cloughjordan ecovillage, Tipperary last year, with the Bantry scheme launching in May. Since then interest is growing in the concept.

The basic mechanism is straightforward. CSA members, or shareholders, pay the farmer directly to grow a crop, or mix of crops. The farmer grows the food and the shareholders enjoy the harvest.

There are thousands of variations such as box schemes, vegetables only and all-farm products. Some CSAs pay upfront, some by subscription. Some are set up by the farmer, others by consumers. In the end, though, the producer and consumer enter into a direct relationship.

There are advantages for both. The farmer gets regular payments, a boost to cash flow, and usually earns more than he or she would on an open market. The CSA members share the risk, as well as the rewards. They are also often keen to help out and to learn about farming and crop growing.

The farmer has little or no marketing and distribution to worry about, and there is less waste because consumers are less demanding than chain stores. The shareholders know some crops are naturally knobbly.

There are advantages for the consumer, too. They know where the food is coming from, who's growing it and they have a say in how it's produced.

There are less food miles. It means good quality food at a lower price, a stronger local economy, and food security. It is also great fun.

Bantry CSA focused on three acres of Irish heritage Sonas oats on Mr Holland's 40ac farm, and half an acre of Sarpo Miro, grown by Stephen and Packie Donovan of Kilcrohane.

He was paid €2,000 for three acres of oats with the seed supplied. In the end, he had to pay €500 for a combine harvester on two acres. "If the weather hadn't been so bad, I would have just used my own reaper and binder," Dennis says.

Most of the money was invested into his vintage threshing machine, a 1937 48 Marshall, and the repair of a tractor. "You have to spend money to make money, but next year I would expect to make a profit," he adds.

The Sonas performed well, with very low inputs, yielding 2t/ac. "I just put a light dressing of manure on at the start, nothing else," says Dennis. If the land were certified, the grain would qualify as organic.

Shares

There were 30 shares in the oats harvest, and there are 27 shares sold so far, at €75 a share for threshed or rolled grain, and €100 to have it dehulled. Right now the group are looking for a dehuller.

Shareholders should receive 110kg each. "That's enough to keep six people in porridge for a year and feed some chickens. They also get the straw, which many will use for mulch on their own vegetable patches," says John Dolan, who started the Bantry CSA project.

Two of the acres were taken up with a combine, while the third less-accessible acre, was taken up with scythes by the shareholders themselves.

"They wanted to do it, to see what it was like, and it was great craic. It reminded me of the harvest when I was young, having people around to lend a hand," Dennis maintains.

"The shareholders, give them they're due, they worked hard and got the crop in four hours. There were women scything the field and they were well up for it, working as hard as the men," he remarks. "Of course, we had a few pints of Murphy's at the end."

The CSA members, too, were enthusiastic. "Dennis said to me 'Are you happy with your crop?'. And I thought, yeah, it is my crop! That was a great feeling," says Ron Skingley.

"It was a big learning curve, but it was really interesting to see how it was done in the old days. It was really good value for money, and it was good fun."

Charlie Donovan, Dennis Holland's uncle, showed the shareholders how to tie the stooks. It takes a second, using an oat stalk, and works perfectly. The shareholders and farmers had never seen it before. A sailor in the scheme couldn't find a reference to it in his encyclopaedia of knots.

Amazing

"It really made it a lot simpler to tie the stooks, it was amazing how well it worked, and nobody had any idea about it. It's just a simple twist, but you couldn't tie as fast using binder twine," says John Dolan. "It's a simple, tremendously useful skill that, like so many others, could soon disappear."

The shareholders also learned about the realities of modern farming. The harvest was delayed for weeks due to bad weather, and in the end it became a taut waiting game between drying oats and gathering birds.

Meanwhile, the potato growers were paid €2,000, and supplied €632 of organic seed potatoes. Sarpo Miro is a blight-resistant variety and the crop was grown with minimal inputs, but again the land is not certified organic. That crop looks like a bumper harvest, too, with Packie Donovan expecting a yield of 4t/ac. The CSA has sold 24 shares at €88 each and expects to give 130kg per share.

It all began when John Dolan approached the farmers. "I wanted to get a CSA off the ground, and I thought grain and potatoes could provide the staples. You can't really buy locally grown staples in quantity at a farmers' market," says Dolan.

"I opted for the Sonas because it's a rare Irish heritage variety, a good all-rounder, and efforts are under way to re-establish it." Once the farmers agreed to grow the crops, he sold shares at various markets around Bantry.

The Cloughjordan scheme is even more ambitious. The group have access to 12ac within the ecovillage, and they've leased a nearby 28ac farm for five years, with an option for another five.

"People pay €20 a week, and they get the produce off the farm. We employ a farmer, he gets €20,000 a year, plus his keep, and it's working out very well. He's set up the place very well," explains Pat Malone, who set up the scheme with Michael Miklas of the Biodynamic Association.

"We grew about five acres of grains this year, about three acres of oats, rye, a baking wheat, spelt, and a mix of a lot of other things," he says. "We've five acres of field crops, potatoes, carrots, cabbages and onions. We've hens, Shetland sheep, a saddleback pig, two cows, two heifers and and a six-month bull."

Currently there are 52 shareholders, but ultimately the scheme hopes to feed 80. "Forty acres should feed 80 people comfortably, providing meat, dairy, vegetable and grains, if people are willing to eat seasonally," he says.

If the scheme gets that number, it will generate €1,600 a week, while subscribers will get most of their food (€1,040 a year), a good deal for both producer and consumer, though Cloughjordan is a not-for-profit scheme. "We're trying to set up a fund to buy land," says Malone.

"Local farmers are interested," he says. "Though they probably think we're a bit harebrained. But they're very supportive as well, one farmer lent us a post driver.

"They see the wisdom in what we're doing. We're working in a closed market, and most farmers find open markets very hard to supply, they're very stringent and demanding."

CSAs offer another chance at income diversification, and they put consumers and producers in direct relationship, bringing a sense of community back to farming. CSAs are not going to save Irish farming, but they can offer another route to the consumer, and provide many other benefits.

For further information contact John Dolan directly at dunodolain@gmail.com or Pat Malone: WendyNPat@gmail.com or on 0505 42773.

- Daithi hAnluain

Irish Independent