Corporations Offer Fresh Produce Through Community Agriculture

Fatty foods and frozen meals at the office are out: New York City offices now offer fresh, organic produce from the newest trend for locavores, community-supported agriculture.

The New York Daily News reports that big-name corporations, like NBC, J.Crew,and architectural firm Kohn Pederson Fox have jumped on the CSA bandwagon to bring farm-grown veggies straight to employees' cubicles. Manhattan companies that provide CSA services, such as Great Performances (which sources food from Katchkie farms in Hinderhook, N.Y.), have seen their customers double and triple in the last year. As the CSA movement continues to grow, says Great Performance's CEO Liz Neumark, "it makes sense to bring it to the workplace."

New York's hardly the first city to see CSA services jump. Colorado's market for CSAs began growing in 2010, with GE's offices in Boulder leading the way. And one new Houston CSA, called Farmhouse Delivery, offers the same door-to-door services to offices and homes for less than $40 per week. And as the number of CSAs continues to grow (Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle estimates there's about 6,500 throughout the country), one can only assume the number of workplace CSAs will also rise.

The only downside to a CSA? You can't always choose what you get (bad for shoppers who like to plan out meals). Usually, a delivery will contain whatever is in season and whatever is local. In short, don't count on bananas or avacados in a CSA delivery in Manhattan. Still, it beats heading to Walmart for local produce.