Community-supported agriculture
Community-supported agriculture (CSA model) or cropsharing is a system that connects producers and consumers within the food system closer by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an alternative socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution that allows the producer and consumer to share the risks of farming.[1] The model is a subcategory of civic agriculture that has an overarching goal of strengthening a sense of community through local markets.[2]
Not to be confused with Sharecropping.
Community-supported agriculture can be considered as a practice of Commoning.[3] It is an example of community-led management of the production and distribution of goods and services. The organization of food provisioning through commoning is complementary to the horizontal axis of market mediated food provisioning and the verticality of the state distribution and regulation on food.[3] As a model where market agents do not interact solely as competitors but as “members of a community collaborating in pursuing a collective action for the commonwealth”[3] it is also recognized and supported by public policies in some countries. Such frameworks of collaboration between public administration and the cooperative sector are known as Public-Commons-Partnerships (PCP)[4][5][6] and have also been established in relation to food. As a prefigurative practice that decommodifies food and “strengthens the imaginary of community as a source of reward and space of emancipation“[3] CSA has been acknowledged as an important step-stone in a sustainability transition in agri-food systems.[7][8][9]
In return for subscribing to a harvest, subscribers receive either a weekly or bi-weekly box of produce or other farm goods. This includes in-season fruits, vegetables, and can expand to dried goods, eggs, milk, meat, etc. Typically, farmers try to cultivate a relationship with subscribers by sending weekly letters of what is happening on the farm, inviting them for harvest, or holding an open-farm event. Some CSAs provide for contributions of labor in lieu of a portion of subscription costs.[10]
The term CSA is mostly used in the United States, Canada and the UK but a variety of similar production and economic sub-systems are in use worldwide and in Austria and Germany as Solidarische Landwirtschaft ("solidarity farming").
International[edit]
Even if 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 program SARE offered grants for research and education projects that advance sustainable agricultural practices like CSA.[21][22]
In Germany and Austria the CSA groups founded the Bundesnetzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft (Federal Network of CSA-farms) in 2011.[23]
Italy[edit]
The CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) model in Italy is a relatively young movement that began to gain traction in 2011.[28]
The first CSA established in Italy was the C.A.P.S. (Agrarian Community of Social Promotion) in Pisa,[29][30] while the largest CSA is Arvaia in Bologna, boasting 220 active members and 500 associates.[31] 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.[28]
It is closely connected to the history of GAS (Gruppi di acquisto solidale) – Solidarity Purchase Groups). GAS and CSA share similar ethical values and organizational structures, operating based on principles of solidarity, mutuality, and sustainability. However, there are distinct differences between CSAs and GASs in terms of risk-sharing. In a CSA, members choose to provide financial support to farmers, thereby sharing the risks inherent in agricultural work. On the other hand, GAS members do not enter into a formal contract that obligates them to share any potential costs.[29][32]
Socio-economic model[edit]
CSAs create direct connections between producers and consumers through alternative markets and the members and farmers share the risk of farming.[1] 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.[1]
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.[1] 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.[1] Although these markets still exist within a larger capitalist economy, they are able to exist because of the "economic rents" that are collected.