Difference between revisions of "Community Supported Agriculture - CSA"
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== History of the concept == | == History of the concept == | ||
''All the way around the world in countries as diverse as the United States, Japan, France, China or Mali, people who farm and people who eat are forming communities around locally grown food. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Teikei, AMAP, Reciproco, ASC – the names may be different but the essence is the same. Active citizens are making a commitment to local farms to share the risks and the bounty of ecological farming. A century of “development” has broken the connection between people and the land where their food is grown and in many countries, north and south, a few decades of free trade have driven family-scale farms to the point of desperation. A long series of food scandals – illnesses from food-borne pathogens, milk and other products contaminated with GMOs and chemical pollutants – have led to a crisis of confidence in imported foods from industrial-scale farms. CSA offers a return to wholeness, health and economic viability. | |||
Human history abounds in examples of specific groups of non-farmers being connected with specific farms—the medieval manor, the Soviet system of linking a farm with a factory, or the steady attachment of particular customers to the stand of a particular farm at a farmers’ market. In Cuba today, all institutions are obliged to be self-sufficient in food, so companies and schools have farms or garden plots. But none of these is like the form of organization we refer to as CSA.'' From Elizabeth Henderson'kKeynote for Urgenci Kobe Conference 2010, “Community Supported Foods and Farming” February 22nd, 2010. | |||
Read the rest of the article on the history of Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology initiatives (LSPA) around the world on Urgenci website [https://urgenci.net/csa-history/ here]. | |||
== Public policies associated with this theme == | == Public policies associated with this theme == | ||
Revision as of 13:16, 26 April 2022
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a concept that links citizens with local farmers and farms with environmentally friendly practices through a harvest partnership. You become a "partner" of a farm by purchasing a share of the harvest in advance. Participating vegetable farms deliver weekly baskets of various vegetables to a fixed point in a neighbourhood. The livestock farms offer their various cuts for an initial deposit.
A win-win partnership Community Supported Agriculture offers the citizen : - the privilege of a direct link with a farmer ; - access to healthy, freshly picked vegetables; - a role as an important player in the development of organic and local agriculture in Quebec and food sovereignty.
It offers farms : - the support of a group of committed citizens ; - the guarantee of an income early in the season; - the possibility of planning production and harvests in advance.
It requires the citizens : - to collect their basket each week from the drop-off point ; - to pay in advance for their vegetables or meat; - to cook according to the contents of their surprise basket and to participate in the project.
It requires farms to : - rigorous planning and fine management of diversified production or organic livestock farming; - a link with several "clients" who have become "partners" rather than with a distributor.
Equivalent concepts
Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology initiatives (LSPA)
History of the concept
All the way around the world in countries as diverse as the United States, Japan, France, China or Mali, people who farm and people who eat are forming communities around locally grown food. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Teikei, AMAP, Reciproco, ASC – the names may be different but the essence is the same. Active citizens are making a commitment to local farms to share the risks and the bounty of ecological farming. A century of “development” has broken the connection between people and the land where their food is grown and in many countries, north and south, a few decades of free trade have driven family-scale farms to the point of desperation. A long series of food scandals – illnesses from food-borne pathogens, milk and other products contaminated with GMOs and chemical pollutants – have led to a crisis of confidence in imported foods from industrial-scale farms. CSA offers a return to wholeness, health and economic viability.
Human history abounds in examples of specific groups of non-farmers being connected with specific farms—the medieval manor, the Soviet system of linking a farm with a factory, or the steady attachment of particular customers to the stand of a particular farm at a farmers’ market. In Cuba today, all institutions are obliged to be self-sufficient in food, so companies and schools have farms or garden plots. But none of these is like the form of organization we refer to as CSA. From Elizabeth Henderson'kKeynote for Urgenci Kobe Conference 2010, “Community Supported Foods and Farming” February 22nd, 2010.
Read the rest of the article on the history of Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology initiatives (LSPA) around the world on Urgenci website here.
Public policies associated with this theme
CSA in the world
The term "Community Supported Agriculture" is a generic term. It is used as such in North America. In other countries, the designations may be different. Internationally, the term that seems to be emerging is Local Solidarity Partnerships between Producers and Consumers.
Main networks working on this issue
The URGENCI network brings together Local Solidarity Partnerships between Producers and Consumers (LSPC) actors worldwide, all kinds of Community Supported Agriculture initiatives, as a solution to the problems associated with global intensive agricultural production and distribution. Urgenci is a member of RIPESS Intercontinental and RIPESS Europe.
Links
With socioeco.org
You will find here the documents, videos, pedagogical tools, case studies and articles from independant medias on CSA: http://www.socioeco.org/bdf_motcle-thema-82_en.html
With Ripess NL articles or position papers
- What are we going to eat tomorrow around the Mediterranean sea ? Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - April 2022, Jocelyn Parot
- Preparing for the event “Social Economy, the Future of Europe” – Strasbourg, May 2022: Urgenci contribution, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - March 2022 - March 2022,Judith Hitchman, Urgenci
- CSA’s, about community processes as core to systemic change and justice (Finland), Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - February 2022, Ruby Van der Wekken, Commons FI
- URGENCI’s e-learning hub, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - January 2022, Judith Hitchman, Urgenci
- Open Food Network: from CSAs to CSS (Community Supported Software), Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - January 2022, Filipa Ferraz,
- More Mentors for Stronger CSA Networks Webinar Report, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - October 2021, Urgenci
- Webinar report : CSA for CSB (Community Seed Banks), Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - May 2021, Urgenci
- Webinar report : “How to Keep Food Community Members Involved?”, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - May 2021, Urgenci
- Award to the UNESCO CRESAÇOR Club, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - February 2021, Ana Silva, Cresaçor
- URGENCI @Oxford Real Farming Conference, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - January 2022, Judith Hitchman, January 2021, Urgenci
- Emergency Relief for People Facing Difficulties, Article Seikatzuclub.coop, June 2020
- National CSA Meeting in Norway, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - January 2020, Alexandra Devik, Organic Norway
- More farmers, better food: Nyéléni ECA releases CAP publication, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - May 2019, Judith Hitchman, Urgenci
- The Co-op Farming Model Might Help Save America’s Small Farms, Annelise Jolley, October 2018
Link with moodle xx
Link to pedagogical tools in socioeco.org
- CSAct! Learn the skills, gain the knowledge, Be part of CSA, 2019
- Be Part of CSA! Supporting Booklet for Training on Community Supported Agriculture, 2016