Welcome to our northernmost CSA

Date Published: 17th March 2016

Transition Turriefield is based on the far west mainland of Shetland and their aim is to change the way Shetland thinks about food. To achieve this, they believe that their community members need to be more than just passive consumers. Shetland was once an extremely self-sufficient community, but in the last 60 years it has become very dependent on imported produce. Because of the remote and rural nature of the Isles, residents have restricted buying choices and the opportunity for organic produce is limited. Their supermarket ‘fresh’ produce, no matter how quickly it is transported to the Isles, is at least two days older than that available in mainland Britain. As a community, their carbon footprint is also increased by the need to import food. The CSA model is a great way to tackle all these issues at once. They involve customers in local food production, reduce their carbon foot prints and provide them with fresh, health produce. The northerly, marine climate is challenging and they have had to demonstrate they can realistically grow a wide range of produce, before asking for a CSA commitment from their customers. But the support for their efforts to develop sustainable food production in Shetland is huge, and growing. What is needed now, are more projects like theirs in the Isles.