CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

Old wisdom in a new package, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is revolutionising the way food is produced and distributed around the world.

In response to an increasingly globalised food system, and the corresponding, social, environmental and health problems which it poses, communities around the world have been developing a different vision for food production and distribution. CSA is a concept which encourages local, environmentally sustainable food production, and which supports both farmers and 'consumers' alike.

The CSA concept originated in the 1960s in Switzerland and Japan, where consumers interested in safe food and farmers seeking stable markets for their crops joined together in economic partnerships. Called "teikei" in Japan, it translates to "putting the farmers' face on food".

CSA is a partnership of mutual commitment between a farm (producer) and a community of supporters (consumers) which provides a direct economic and social link between the production and consumption of food. Although CSA's take many forms, the essence is that supporters cover all, or part of a farm's yearly operating budget by committing to purchasing a share of the season's harvest - up front. There is no agent or distributor between the customer and the farmer. All subscriber funds are directed to the Farm or activities, which support the community-supported agriculture arrangement.

CSA members make a commitment to support the farm throughout the season, and assume the costs, risks and bounty of growing food along with the farmer. Members help pay for seeds, fertilizer, water, equipment maintenance, labour, etc. In return, the farm provides, to the best of its ability, a healthy supply of seasonal fresh produce throughout the growing season. Farmers can determine with certainty what to plant based on the growing plan arranged with the group. Becoming a member creates a responsible relationship between people and the food they eat, the land on which it is grown and the people who grow it.

The CSA movement has been growing rapidly in the US and in Europe, with over 2000 CSA projects in the US and Canada by the early 1990's. Some farms supplying up to 4000 families directly and in Japan 5,000,000 families are supplied in this way. In Denmark 40,000 families are supplied by the basket system. It is not proposed as the only alternative way to 'do' food, but it is model that has proven to work for many thousands of communities and farmers around the world.

Sharing risks of food production…

One of the main benefits to farmers of CSA projects is that the risks of food production are shared with the people who benefit. Under the industrial, and increasingly globalised model of agriculture, farmers are subject to the whims of 'the market', which can be even more unpredictable than the weather or other natural disasters. With large mono-crops in particular, a single 'event', be it a market price drop, a hail storm, flood, insect plague or late frost, can often be enough to put a small farmer out of business. Consumers on the other hand, remain oblivious to the problem - they are still able to purchase their tomatoes, or whatever - and probably wouldn't even notice that this time they come from Spain instead of from the Brisbane valley.

As well as helping to share the risks of farming, up-front payment can also help to reduce the burden of finance on farmers. True, this does place a burden of finance onto the people who eat the food, however, there are a number of ways of doing this in an equitable way that does not disadvantage low income people.

While it seems like a big change for people to start sharing the risks of food production, we already do pay many of the costs associated with insuring crops from risk under the current farming system - only these costs are often hidden. For example, in order to offset the risk of crop failures, farmers are often encouraged to use increased amounts of pesticides or other industrial farming technologies, which, in theory, eliminate some of the variations of natural systems. The broader community pays the longer term costs of pesticide use and industrial agriculture, through such environmental impacts as biodiversity loss, soil erosion, and nutrient run-off into waterways.

The need to eliminate risk is one of the key drivers of the 'green revolution' and the industrialisation of agriculture, in which nature is seen as a 'nuisance' to be controlled, rather than as the source of life, which we know it to be. In this way, the sharing of risk which occurs though CSA goes directly to the real issues of environmental sustainability in agriculture, by providing a model of 'risk management' which is based on community co-operation, rather than control of nature.

CSA agreements can greatly help the economic viability of small scale, family farms, which in turn helps these farmers to survive and can stop the conversion of agricultural lands to urban sprawl in and around cities.

How do CSA's work in practice?

Generally CSA's develop around an existing farm and operate in a way that the farmer maintains responsibility for the management of their land and all growing aspects. The CSA supporters manage the initiation of new members, payment collection, and distribution of the produce. These responsibilities can shift depending on how the relationships develop. In some cases the farmer may want to become involved in the distribution and promotion aspects of a CSA, or the supporters become more involved in farm activities like planting and picking.

Some CSA's work with a group of farmers in order to achieve more diversity of produce - this may mean one farmer suppliers the vegetables, another fruit crops and another dairy products. With such arrangements small farmers wouldn't have to devote land to extensive low value crops such as pumpkins or sweet corn and a larger farm wouldn't have to dedicate time to labour intensive crops like carrots or herbs. It is obviously important to recognise the different skills and soil required for different types of farming.

The Benefits of CSA

The concept of CSA is relatively new in Australia compared to North America, Japan and the United Kingdom where CSA is widely accepted as a alternative model of food production and distribution. CSA appeals to both conventional and organic farmers and the public. CSA's are a viable concept to facilitate change to a more sustainable existence for farmers and communities. It is increasingly becoming the antidote for providing productive community green space in peri-urban area's suffering pressures from urban sprawl.

The benefits of CSA include:

• Self-sufficiency and self-reliance within local communities, and a reduction in reliance on external markets for food supplies (Gelsi 1999),
• The development of a sense of social responsibility and stewardship of local land (Friends of the Earth 2002),
  Local employment opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged groups, including long-term unemployed and women,
• Ensurance of stable market channels for small farms and hence on-going economic viability for regional communities (Perez, 2002),
• Encouragment of local community involvement on farms - including regular work and working bees - bringing local communities together to connect with each other and to the place where food is grown,
• Increased capacity of local networks to actively contribute to positive social change,
• People eat more vegetables and a greater variety of locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables, and this is linked with improvements in health (Perez, 2002).