Community-supported agriculture

The term "community-supported agriculture" was coined in the northeastern United States in the 1980s, influenced by European biodynamic agriculture ideas formulated by Rudolf Steiner. Two European farmers, Jan Vander Tuin from Switzerland and Trauger Groh from Germany, brought European biodynamic farming ideas to the United States in the mid-1980s. This influence led to the separate and simultaneous creation of two CSAs in 1986. The CSA Garden at Great Barrington was created in Massachusetts by Jan Vander Tuin, Susan Witt, and Robyn Van En. The Temple-Wilton Community Farm was created in New Hampshire by Anthony Graham, Trauger Groh, and Lincoln Geiger. Since the 1980s, community supported farms have been organized throughout North America—mainly in New England, the Northwest, the Pacific coast, the Upper-Midwest and Canada. North America now has at least 13,000 CSA farms of which 12,549 are in the US according to the United States Department of Agriculture in 2007. The rise of CSAs seems to be correlated with the increase in awareness of the environmental movement in the United States, and because food acquisition from local sources can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, CSAs contribute to climate change mitigation. CSAs have even become popular in urban environments such as the New York City Coalition Against Hunger's CSA program that helps serve under-served communities. One of the largest subscription CSAs was Capay Inc. in Capay Valley, California which in 2010 delivered boxes to 13,000 customers a week as well as selling at 15 farmers markets, operating a retail store, and delivering special orders to restaurants. Urgenci, based in France, helps network together consumers and producers across Europe, the Mediterranean, and West Africa. CSA was introduced to China following a series of food safety scandals in the late 2000s. It was estimated that there were more than 500 CSA farms in China by 2017. They have been a critical force in the development of the organic and ecological farming in China. Chinese CSA farmers, researchers and civil society organizations gather annually at the national CSA symposium held since 2009. Much of the growth in women labour participation in agriculture is outside the "male dominated field of conventional agriculture". In community supported agriculture women represent 40 percent of farm operators. == International ==

Although the systems of community-supported agriculture vary in different countries, there are a number of umbrella organizations connecting the farms. In the United States the governmental Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program offer grants for research and education projects that advance sustainable agriculture practices such as CSA. In Germany and Austria, CSA groups founded the Bundesnetzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft (Federal Network of CSA-farms) in 2011. == Switzerland ==

In Switzerland, community farming is often referred to as Solidarische Landwirtschaft (, abbreviated to Solawi). Among others there are two important forms of organization for CSA in Switzerland: the cooperative and the individual initiative. Food cooperatives are the oldest form of organization and the first CSA projects in Switzerland were organized as cooperatives. They belong to the category of farmer-shareholder cooperatives. Cooperatives are based on direct cooperation between farmers and consumers. Consumers or cooperative members actively participate in the management of agricultural production together with the producers. Producers assume the day-to-day management and work on the farm and are often formally employed by the cooperative, as well as being part of it. Cooperative members participate in production and distribution costs by purchasing shares in the cooperative and paying annual fees for the delivery of vegetables. Cooperative members also participate in some production or distribution tasks as part of their commitment to the cooperative. Some CSAs are also initiated by producers, often created to open a new distribution channel. This form of organization is often referred to as farmer-run CSAs. Producers offer baskets with the farm's produce to any interested consumer (consumers are not organized, but have individual contracts with the farmer). The baskets with vegetables and/or fruits are delivered to consumers on a regular basis. The distribution and management of production is the responsibility of the producer and there is usually no collaboration or shared investment between consumers and producers. For the producer it means a capacity and possibility to diversify production and has the advantage of a new distribution channel with very low entry costs. Verband Regionale Vertragslandwirtschaft (RVL) is a German-speaking organization created in 2011 with the help of FRACP. RVL collaborates with the Kooperationsstelle für solidarische Landwirtschaft and offers courses on community supported agriculture. == Italy ==

The CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) model in Italy is a relatively young movement that began to gain traction in 2011. The first CSA established in Italy was the C.A.P.S. (Agrarian Community of Social Promotion) in Pisa, while the largest CSA is Arvaia in Bologna, boasting 220 active members and 500 associates. As of 2021, a survey conducted by Numes, a project born in collaboration with the Arvaia CSA, identified 15 formal CSAs, although the actual number is likely higher. == United Kingdom ==

The UK's first CSA was established in Findhorn, Scotland in 1994. The national umbrella organisation, set up in 2013, is the Community Supported Agriculture Network. It aims to help people set up their CSAs, as well as providing helpful information to help these relations to run more successfully. Registered CSAs are mostly distributed across the east of Scotland. However, it is likely there are many more ‘informal’ CSAs on the west coast and the Isles. Across Wales and Northern Ireland, CSAs are spread evenly. In England, most CSAs are located in the South East. CSA enterprises across the UK have been growing fast, with most of the farm to community connections beginning and remaining as grassroots initiates, despite limited funding from government or private sector. Funding Support came from the Soil Association's programme within the Big Lottery funded Making Local Food Work scheme which ran from 2007 to 2012. This supported the growth of CSAs across each of the countries, through providing funding that enabled the use of community and social enterprise approaches to link consumers and producers in the local food-related third sector. == Socio-economic model ==

CSAs create direct connections between producers and consumers through alternative markets and the members and farmers share the risk of farming. The goals of the first CSA model in the US were to have the producer and consumer to come into the market as equals and make an exchange with fair prices and fair wages. The consumer pays for things such as transparency, environmental stewardship, producer relationships, etc. The farmers engaged in CSAs do so to fulfill goals other than income and are not compensated fairly in these exchanges. This kind of market holds "economic rents" where the consumer surplus comes from the consumers' willingness to pay for something further than the product as well as for the products inputs themselves. Although these markets still exist within a larger capitalist economy, they are able to exist because of the "economic rents" that are collected. ==CSA system==

CSAs generally focus on the production of high quality foods for a local community, often using organic or biodynamic farming methods, and a shared risk membership–marketing structure. This kind of farming operates with a much greater degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders than usual—resulting in a stronger consumer-producer relationship. The core design includes developing a cohesive consumer group that is willing to fund a whole season's budget in order to get quality foods. The system has many variations on how the farm budget is supported by the consumers and how the producers then deliver the foods. CSA theory purports that the more a farm embraces whole-farm, whole-budget support, the more it can focus on quality and reduce the risk of food waste. Structure Community-supported agriculture farms in the United States today share three common characteristics: an emphasis on community and/or local produce, share or subscriptions sold prior to season, and weekly deliveries to members/subscribers. Though CSA operation varies from farm to farm and has evolved over time, these three characteristics have remained constant. The functioning of a CSA also relies on four practical arrangements: for farmers to know the needs of a community, for consumers to have the opportunity to express to farmers what their needs and financial limitations are, for commitments between farmers and consumers to be consciously established, and for farmers needs to be recognized. From this base, four main types of CSAs have been developed: • Farmer managed: A farmer sets up and maintains a CSA, recruits subscribers, and controls management of the CSA. • Shareholder/subscriber: Local residents set up a CSA and hire a farmer to grow crops, and shareholders/subscribers control most management. • Farmer cooperative: Multiple farmers develop a CSA program. • Farmer-shareholder cooperative: Farmers and local residents set up and cooperatively manage a CSA. In most original CSAs, a core group of members existed. This core group of members helped to make decisions about and run the CSA including marketing, distribution, administrative, and community organization functions. CSAs with a core group of members are most profitable and successful. However, in 1999, 72 percent of CSAs did not have a core group of members. CSAs with a core group of members operate more successfully as a farmer-shareholder cooperative and CSAs without a group of core members rely much more on subscriptions and run most prominently as shareholder/subscriber CSAs. Ideology Community-supported agriculture in America was influenced by the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher. He developed the concepts of anthroposophy and biodynamic agriculture. The Temple-Wilton Community Farm used his ideas to develop three main goals of CSAs: • New forms of property ownership: the idea that land should be held in common by a community through a legal trust, which leases the land to farmers • New forms of cooperation: the idea that a network of human relationships should replace the traditional system of employers and employees • New forms of economy: that the economy should not be based on increasing profit, but should be based on the actual needs of the people and land involved in an enterprise Distribution and marketing methods Shares of a CSA originally and predominantly consist of produce. In more recent years, shares have diversified and include non-produce products including eggs, meat, flowers, honey, dairy and soaps. Share prices are mostly determined by overhead costs of production, but are also determined by share prices of other CSAs, variable costs of production, market forces, and income level of the community. take orders online and have a number of farmers who send that week's orders to a central point in a limited region, for distribution by the organizers. CSAs market their farms and shares in different ways. CSAs employ different channels of marketing to diversify their sales efforts and increase subscriptions. CSAs use local farmers' markets, restaurants, on-farm retail, wholesale to natural food stores, and wholesale to local groceries in addition to their CSAs to market shares. One problem that CSAs encounter is over-production, so CSAs often sell their produce and products in ways other than shares. Often, CSA farms also sell their products at local farmers' markets. Excess products are sometimes given to food banks. Challenges for farmers Many CSA farmers can capitalize on a closer relationship between customers and their food, since some customers will pay more (an economic rent if this puts the price above the cost of production) if they know where it is coming from, who is involved, and have special access to it. However, some farmers participating in community-supported agriculture do not experience the economic benefits that they are perceived to obtain by participating in an alternative community-based arrangement. Galt's 2013 study of CSA farmers found that many farmers charged lower fees and prices for their goods than would provide them with financial security. This study suggested that farmers may charge less than they need to earn fair wages due to undervaluing their expenses and to offset the high costs of CSA products and make it more affordable for customers; see moral economy. ==See also==