Ten local Community Supported Agriculture farmers gathered at Zeitgeist Arts on March 14 to connect with prospective customers and to promote the growth of the local foods movement.

Community members who missed the event can now find a complete list of local CSA farms online at csaguild.com.

The event at Zeitgeist Arts was called “CSA Open House” and was organized by the CSA Guild, an informal group of local CSA farmers who began gathering last spring with the intention of helping each other out in a variety of ways. The group collaborated to define CSA and has posted that definition and a guide to choosing a CSA on their website.

This was the first annual CSA Open House in Duluth and the local farmers hope it will become an annual event in the Duluth community’s calendar. In the Madison area, a group called Fairshare CSA Coalition (formerly Madison Area CSA Coalition) has been organizing a CSA open house for over 20 years. The event has become very successful, attracting over 1,000 people in recent years. While the Duluth version had a much more humble turnout, the potential is great. The growing number of CSA farms in the Duluth/Superior area points to increased consumer interest in purchasing locally-grown, organic food.