You've heard of community supported agriculture (CSAs) and in a recent Envirovore post we told you about CSFs which are community supported fisheries. Now, more places are looking into RSAs—restaurant supported agriculture.

One great example is Chef David Swanson who owns Milwaukee's Braise Culinary School. Swanson started Braise RSA to help connect local growers in Wisconsin to restaurants around the state. Restaurants buy a share in the RSA and Swanson distributes—all of which frees up farmers to grow food.

As is the case with supported agriculture, growers get some of the money before the harvest season which means they can afford more easily their upfront costs. As it turns out, this often allows farmers to give restaurants deals because they have money upfront and because they have an invested buyer who's committed to them.

The RSA also has a system where if one farmer's crops are suffering, they can track down another farmer with the same crop to provide service to the restaurant.

Source: OnMilwaukee.com, Chicago Tribune