Category:Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology initiatives (LSPA)

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Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology (LSPA) initiatives typically involve multiple stakeholders from the local food systems: producers, consumers, researchers, local officials, etc.. They are based upon partnership, local exchange, or direct relationships where producers can earn decent livelihoods, and consumers share the risks and rewards of sustainable agriculture in return for their share of healthy, nutritious, locally- grown food. There is no fixed way of organizing these partnerships: it is a framework to inspire communities to work together with their local farmers, provide mutual benefits and social cohesion, and reconnect people with one another and to the land where their food is grown. These partnerships are experiments of social innovation defined by their values rather than fixed operational mechanisms or schemes.

In most countries where it has taken root, CSA can also be described as a contract-based direct sales system. The key characteristics for CSA also include up-front payment of a share of season’s worth of vegetables and long-term commitment to a farmer. However, CSA is just one of the various forms of LSPA. There are other types of LSPA. For example, some farmers’ markets can reasonably be considered as LSPAs, if farmers effectively come to sell their own products, and if the farmers’ markets are established on a set of commitments. Similarly, some food cooperatives are based on partnerships. Even if most of them are not direct sales, but rather function as intermediaries, they provide a logistical platform, buy from multiple farms and sell to multiple groups, and some can effectively be considered as LSPAs. (Definition from Urgenci webpage)

There are other appellations according to the country, history of the concept and actors : Apart from the ones listed below, you also have :

• The ASC in Quebec