CSAs cultivate a tremendous amount of agrobiodiversity, growing 44 different crops (Figure 5) and
raising three different types of livestock on average. Most CSAs focus on vegetables, although some
are exclusively focused on fruit, one on grain, and a handful of others on meat or other animal
products. Since one of the core nutrient cycling strategies of agroecologically-oriented farmers is
integrating livestock and crop production, about half of CSAs (49 percent) had livestock on hand in
2009, although the extent to which animal products are a strong production focus is highly variable.
The most common animals are layer chickens (43 percent of CSAs have them, although not all have
them in their CSA box). These are followed by hogs and pigs (23 percent of CSAs have them),
goats and kids (21 percent), and then broilers, sheep and lamb, and beef cattle (all at 13 percent).
Many CSA farms also have some land devoted to conservation plantings and other such areas where
other species can live. As one farmer noted,