We have a new plan! Upon reflection during this six month strategic planning process, which culminated in our retreat on April 27, 2010, we found that our previous mission statement still holds true to what we are dedicated to as an organization. What has changed is how we will carry out that mission. Please see our statement and summary below.

2010 Mission Statement

Future Harvest-CASA is a network of farmers, agricultural professionals, landowners and consumers living and working in the Chesapeake region. Future Harvest - CASA promotes profitable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable food and farming systems that work to sustain communities.

Summary of Strategic Plan

Future Harvest is focused on the needs of Chesapeake area farmers. Future Harvest provides first and foremost hands-on educational opportunities on sustainable farming, by promoting and organizing field days and our annual conference, and promoting farmer-to farmer training.

Partner Organizations are key to Future Harvest’s success and should be an integral part of its audience and program delivery. Future Harvest provides coordination and collaboration between entities that serve the sustainable farming community. Future Harvest also works collaboratively with organizations that raise awareness and promote local food to consumers and food professionals.

Consumers (including home and community gardeners) can go to Future Harvest as a trusted source of information on food and local agriculture. Using web technology, Future Harvest can help consumers connect to the best source of information on local producers and local food.

Future Harvest’s goal is also to be a hub for information on policy issues affecting local food and local farmers, either by linking to expert opinion on specific issues or by sponsoring research on topics of critical importance to the sustainability of family farms in the Chesapeake Region.

We want to continue collecting feedback from our members. Please take our 12 question, 5 minute online survey. 

Please feel free to call with questions or with your direct feedback at 410-549-7878, or emailing futureharvestcasa@gmail.com.

SOME HISTORY...

Fifteen years ago, Future Harvest-Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (CASA), was founded to promote profitable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable food and farming systems that work to sustain communities. We are a network of farmers, agricultural professionals, landowners, consumers and local advocates who live and work in the Chesapeake region: Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and Delaware.

From the beginning, our membership has been comprised of producers, consumers, government entities and other stakeholders, with our primary focus for programs and outreach on small and midsize farms and producers who are interested in sustainability and profitability. While we stay true to this original mission, we feel it is time to update our goals and action plans, according to changing times.

There is increased interest in our mission, such that our membership has now expanded to include people from different sectors of the food system: those who participate in the local food economy, those helping to preserve farmland and open space, those who advocate for sustainable food and agriculture and those whose concerns range from educating consumers about where our food comes from to improving school lunches to the importance of school gardens.

We have accomplished a lot and have continued to spread the word, but the staff and Board of Directors of Future Harvest-CASA, along with some of our members, feel that the time is right to chart a new course for our network organization.

As a first step of that process, we’ve decided to hold a series of facilitated listening sessions so that members and potential members may help us to develop and create a new strategy and direction for the next five years. The series were held in January and February.

In order to hear what our current and prospective members are thinking about, here are some questions to consider: Where are we now? Where should we go? What do we need as support to get us to where we want to go? And, how can we improve our public image? How have we been doing to further our core mission: to promote profitable, environmentally sound and socially acceptable food and farming systems that work to sustain communities? And, what more do we need to do? How do we get the word out to others who may be interested in our mission?

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