Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Model PBL Project
People are starting to be concerned about the environmental impact of transporting food long distances. They want their food grown locally, not only for personal health reasons, but for the health of the planet. In addition, many urban communities are embracing locally grown food to eradicate food deserts.
It is this "Grow Local" sentiment that is causing Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, to gain a lot of national and local attention. They are "cropping up" on elementary, high school, and college campuses and servicing teachers, students, and local residents.
In the PBL Project "Building a Community Service Agriculture (CSA) Model," students will get the chance to create a fully functioning, sustainable CSA that will deliver fruits and vegetables grown on an on-site garden to interested faculty.
This project is composed of 4 week-long lessons designed to provide for the promotion and documentation in the construction of a Community Service Agriculture (CSA) Model.
Students will be responsible for the creation of a mission statement, promotional materials, an instructional manual for the proper handling of product, a product distribution flowchart, and contractual/subscription documentation for interested, paying consumers.
All documents will be submitted in a physical folder in the last lesson and graded based upon a rubric. Essentially, this series of lesson provides the paperwork and structural elements for a fully functioning, sustainable CSA where students deliver fruits and vegetables grown in an on-site garden to interested faculty. (Note: This project is predicated on a pre-existing garden with enough volume to provided product to the consumer.)
Lesson 1: History of CSAs/Mission Statement
Lesson 2: Promotion of CSA
Lesson 3: Distribution of Product Protocol/Distribution Flow Chart
Lesson 4: Collection of CSA Documents
This project is brought to you by Andrew Tait with support from the CTE Online curriculum leadership team and detailed coordination provided by Team Lead Laura Gallardo.
