About CUESA

CUESA was organized in 1994 to educate urban consumers about sustainable agriculture and to create links between urban dwellers and the farmers who practice sustainable agriculture in the Bay Area. We are a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit corporation that also has, since 1999, managed the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

CUESA is dedicated to promoting a sustainable food system through the operation of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and its educational programs.

Click here to see a summary of our strategic plan >

Urban education about sustainable agriculture is a vital part of preserving the health of the environment for both urban and rural dwellers. What happens in farmlands profoundly affects the environment of urban dwellers as well:

• Pesticides being used by large-scale conventional agriculture have toxic and polluting effects on the food, water, and air in Bay Area communities. Agricultural run-off is a leading contributor to nonpoint pollution in San Francisco Bay.
• The overuse of freshwater irrigation in conventional agriculture is creating competition between urban and agricultural water needs. Sustainable agriculture offers wise water use alternatives that help ensure that there is plenty of water for both food production and domestic water needs.
• In the U.S., our food travels an average of 1300 miles to get to our tables. This long-distance transport burns large amounts of fossil fuels, pollutes our air and our waters, and clogs our highways, waterways, airways and even our city streets with large food distribution transport vehicles. Local food systems offer an energy-efficient, sustainable, and less polluting alternative.
• Regional farmland preserves open space and beautiful natural landscapes in the Bay Area and helps to control suburban sprawl and commercial development in surrounding areas, thereby contributing to a vastly improved environment for Bay Area citizens.

Urban education about sustainable agriculture also offers great benefits to the civic and community life of urban dwellers:

• Farmers markets and local food systems build community ties and encourage civic life, offering urban residents a ‘small-town experience’ of buying produce directly from farmers, feeling connected to the land where their food is grown, and exercising consumer choice about how their food is grown.
• Sustainable agriculture addresses issues that concern urban residents; the preservation of open space, the survival of endangered species, the treatment of farm animals, the nutritional quality of the food they eat, the purity of California waterways, the working conditions of farm laborers throughout the State, and biodiversity of plant and animal life. Building links with farmers offers urban residents a way to use their food dollars to directly support those practices that are most in keeping with their values and their ethical, political, and social concerns.