ICF Share Value & Affordability

Intervale Community Farm has two main approaches to maintain affordability of ICF shares for households with lower and moderate incomes.

First, ICF keeps our base share price at a level that makes our CSA shares very economical sources for local, organic produce. The graphs below show how summer & winter CSA shares at ICF compare to an average of prices from local farmers’ markets, grocery stores, and food co-ops. The bonus represents the value of produce above and beyond the price you paid for the CSA share. Since each person chooses a different selection of produce, the exact value of each share can differ. Even even in bad years, the value of a share typically equals or exceeds comparable retail .

Our second approach is our longstanding Supported Share program, an internally-funded effort that reduces the cost of CSA shares by about 1/3 for households with qualifying incomes. In over 25 years of the program, ICF has sold more than 1000 of these reduced rate shares, and our program is a model for other CSAs around Vermont and the country.