Co mmunity-supported agriculture

Sally Ruljancich and her husband Colin started their communitysupported agriculture (CSA) scheme by accident. Already farmers, they had a small flock of organically raised lambs ready to go to market, but prices were so low that Colin didn’t think it would be worth spending money on freight. So Sally put a call out on her personal Facebook account to see if friends wanted to buy. She sold the entire flock in 10 minutes. This success led the family to start Colin and Sally’s Organic Lamb and Beef in 2013, and their farm in South Gippsland, Victoria now feeds 112 households through a CSA scheme — with a waiting list of many hundreds.

“I’ve never done a farmers’ market. Our shareholders understand that when your whole lamb or half beef is ready it’s go time! They’re all used to the fact that no animal leaves unless it has a home in a freezer,” she says, describing the nature of their enterprise.

Their CSA scheme is just one of many that are growing in numbers and popularity across the country. Although not every CSA project is the same, all