Locally grown food is typically more sustainable and fresher than imported groceries, but even in Indiana, where almost two thirds of the state is farmland, local veggies can be hard to find.

Some Indianapolis residents grow fruits and vegetables in their own backyards. Others might join a community garden. Many frequent the local network of farmers markets.

At least half a dozen community supported agriculture groups, known commonly as CSAs, provide another way to shrink the divide between Indianapolis dwellers and their food systems. From Greenwood to Noblesville, neighbors have banded together to create local agriculture cooperatives, buying food in bulk from nearby farmers — some even within city limits.

How CSAs work

Every week during the growing season, the Fisher family, Amish farmers in Montezuma, pack blue mail bins full of cucumbers, carrots and corn and send them to Indianapolis. A driver totes the bins about 80 miles east to the Irvington CSA, which has been connecting neighborhood residents with farm- to- Irvington produce for almost two decades. 

“It connects me to the food I eat,” Alyssa Chase, an Irvington CSA coordinator said. “I’ve been to the farm. I know exactly where it’s grown, and I know whose hands are picking it.”

The CSA model is simple. Participants pay farmers, usually smaller scale growers, an upfront fee to help cover season start-up costs. Then each week, the customers receive a delivery.

There’s no guarantee of bounty. CSA members might be blessed with an abundance of greens one week, but they also share with growers the risks involved with farming.

Not only does the local delivery model provide urbanites with fresh food and family farms some much-needed support, it’s more eco-friendly than the grocery store. A bustling network of refrigerated planes and trucks import 90 percent of Indiana’s produce, said Rachel Brandenburg, a food distribution manager at the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

Indianapolis area farmers also offer slightly non-traditional, more tailored CSA programs, via monthly subscription boxes. Farmers markets offer a way to purchase local produce a la carte (even in the winter). Free food stands like in Fletcher Place and the White River State Park,’s U-Pick garden offer local produce at no cost.

“We’ve got a pretty robust system of urban growers here in Indy, some really shining examples who take the mission to their farms, the mission of feeding their neighbors,” Brandenburg said.

Starting in May each week at the Irvington CSA, members stop by the Downey Avenue Christian Church to pick up fresh produce. The first month can bring greens lettuce, kale and Swiss chard. Next sweet red strawberries appear in the bins, then cucumbers followed by carrots, squash, tomatoes and corn as summer turns to fall.

How to find fresh food near you

The Irvington CSA eventually spilled over into Greenwood, which now runs a separate CSA program delivering produce from the Fisher Farm to the southern suburbs. 

Similar programs have popped up across much of Indianapolis:

Kheprw’s Community Controlled Food Initiative offers year-round local produce pick-ups in Midtown, and Tuttle Orchards delivers subscription produce boxes across several area locations, with weekly pick ups at North Mass Boulder, Irvington Vinyl and Books, JCC Indianapolis, Geist Coffee, Wasson Nursery and Indiana Artisan.

Warfleigh resident Ben Matthews delivers his CSA boxes locally — by bike.

Bountiful Farm and Floral, a small urban farm, delivers produce directly to the homes of Irvington members. And Soul Food Project offers CSA delivery and pick up at the Binford Farmers Market, plus at its local farms in Irvington and Martindale-Brightwood.

IndyStar’s environmental reporting is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

Sophie Hartley is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach her at sophie.hartley@indystar.com or on X at @sophienhartley.