CRESTON – Out here in these fields, Julian Cunningham fights for your meals.
He’s a long way from his childhood ranch in Texas, but he’s getting back to his roots, battling frost and drought and bugs. His hands are dirty and the crops are rotating. But his operation bears little resemblance to the 30,000-acre spread of his youth. Today, all he needs is seven acres and 160 families.
Cunningham is one of several farmers in Northwest Montana who have dedicated their livelihoods to community-supported agriculture (CSA), a system that promotes partnerships between local farmers and consumers.
These consumers, or CSA members, make advance payments to the farmer that help cover operating costs in exchange for a portion of the produce throughout the growing season. Cunningham’s Swallow Crest Farm, which began in 1998, is one of the oldest CSA operations in the area.
“The valley’s just getting ripe for this,” Cunningham said. “More people are thinking this way.”
After purchasing an 1889 homestead with his wife outside of Creston, Cunningham fulfilled two longtime dreams of opening a preschool and starting a small-scale farm. He formed a partnership with five of his students’ families. They would provide money up front and he would subsequently provide fruits and vegetables from his gardens.
The next year, Cunningham had 14 families, then 25 and so on, until he reached his current number of 160. It’s hard labor and most of it is done by hand with the exception of a small tractor used for cultivation. Cunningham has two full-time workers who live on his spread and volunteers trickle in from time to time.
Swallow Crest Farm’s output is substantial and diverse. Consumers can choose from nearly 40 different fruits, vegetables and herbs, from the basics like corn and potatoes to the more specialized like bok choy and summer squash, with everything in between. Rows of garlic, onion and hot peppers appeal to the spicy palate, while crops like spinach, cabbage and broccoli are in abundance.
According to a publication by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the concept of community-supported agriculture originated in Switzerland and Japan in the 1960s as a way for consumers to seek out safe food and for farmers to enter into more stable markets. It began taking off in the mid-1980s in the U.S. and Europe and has steadily gained momentum since then.
With CSA, a farmer receives money up front and therefore has more financial stability than a farmer gambling on the whims of the open market and nature. But, of course, nature is still a factor for any farm. In the case of CSA, both the farmer and the consumer assume a degree of risk. The farmer battles the elements throughout the growing season, while the consumer, already financially invested in the crops, takes what the weather allows.
The system has consistently proven effective for both Cunningham and his partners. In fact, Cunningham isn’t sure if he wants to get much bigger. He embraces the concept of the small, local farmer, a lifestyle that relies more on hands and shovels than large machines. But even if his farm doesn’t grow much, Cunningham hopes to pass the concept along to a younger generation of organic agriculturalists, including his two full-time workers – Jesse Wimer and Keenan Storrar.
“They’re basically part of the family for six, seven months,” Cunningham said of Wimer and Storrar.
Cunningham isn’t alone in his desire to promote a tradition of community-supported agriculture in the Flathead. Along with Swallow Crest Farm, there’s a handful other CSA operations in the region, including Terrapin Farm, Ten Lakes Farm and Raven Ridge Farm. All have seen prolonged success.
Cunningham’s farm is a model of efficiency, one in which he works side by side with nature to ward off potential adversaries of his crops. For example, acting under the guidance of his wildlife biologist wife who specializes in birds, Cunningham has found a way to balance the various bird species inhabiting his farm to make them effective insect and gopher repellents.
Swallows – the farm’s namesake – and bats, along with bluebirds, form a 24-hour bug patrol. Cunningham doesn’t have many problems with crop-eating insects like grasshoppers, nor does he have mosquitoes, an absence that makes long days in the field much more bearable. Also, he set up two former telephone poles with perches on top at adjacent corners of his farm for hawks and owls that prey on pesky gophers and voles.
On a recent sunny afternoon, Cunningham and his workers found themselves in the trenches – they were digging a pathway for an underground waterline. Up on the land’s surface, spring’s first signs of life were emerging from the soil. Spinach, garlic and head lettuce, among other veggies, had begun to take shape, with Cunningham expecting his first harvests on May 12 and 14. He knows the exact days – he understands the science.
If Cunningham understands the science of crop cultivation, he also understands the importance of CSA’s human side – he knows each family well. They’re all in this together.
“For me, it’s really about cultivating relationships,” Cunningham said.
Swallow Crest Farm can be reached at (406) 756-0462 or [email protected].