Feenstra: This is one of the greatest educational tools to teach people about agriculture.

Narrator: This is Science Today. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. A group of consumers pay a farmer in advance for regular deliveries of fresh produce throughout the year. Food systems analyst Gail Feenstra of the University of California, Davis says CSAs are becoming increasingly popular.

Feenstra: 1985 was when the first CSA was started on the east coast, in New Hampshire I believe. There are about 450 known CSAs nationwide right now, and they're just growing.

Narrator: Feenstra says CSAs aren't just for rural folks, or people in the suburbs. City dwellers can and do belong to them as well.

Feenstra: There's a farmer outside of Los Angeles that has a CSA. He has over a couple of hundred subscribers at this point. He has something like nine delivery spots in the L.A. area.

Narrator: Feenstra points out that most large cities have farms 30 to 45 minutes away. For Science Today, I'm Steve Tokar.