Community-supported agriculture: A way to connect people and nature
Need for a sustainable agriculture
Environmental pressures and climate challenges notably affect the agricultural sector. On the other hand, agriculture should carefully consider its impact on the environment such as water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity loss. New ways of producing food that could face climate challenges as well as reduce their impacts on the environment are needed.
Nowadays, many efforts are put into agricultural production to make it more sustainable. From using cutting-edge technologies that could predict or evaluate the heat stress that crops suffer to re-thinking how to organize the value chain to reduce its footprint, including new ways of food processing or avoiding using harmful chemical pesticides. These innovations seek to overcome the current challenges and offer more sustainable approaches to produce, process, and distribute food.
Still, many people, especially in the cities, are disconnected from where the food is sowed, grown, and harvested. In some European countries like Belgium, supermarkets remain the main channel for getting organic food1. It is easy to forget then all the processes involved in growing vegetables from the field to our table.
What is Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)
In light of this, there is one interesting innovation in agriculture that aims to reduce their impacts, protect the ecosystems, and connect with people. Here, we present the concept of Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). This innovative agricultural system connects farmers and citizens through a membership program where people can get involved in the vegetable growing process and obtain food.
Have you ever wondered what it feels like to grow your own food, or have you ever considered engaging in how food is produced? These innovative CSA farms offer the opportunity to engage in planting and harvesting vegetables while supporting farmers’ activities. Not only will you participate in self-picking your vegetables, but you may also take part in varied social activities and events at the farm.
The CSA movement started in the 60s in Japan and quickly expanded worldwide2. Since then, 2,783 CSAs were consolidated in Europe in 20153. Each CSA looks different, and motivated farmers invest in many different activities on their farms to bring engaged people around. Farmers have been able to diversify their channels to include collaborations with restaurants and public institutions to deliver them fresh and organic food.
How do CSA farms help the environment?
This innovative agricultural system allows members of the CSA to share the risks that a farm entails, like yield loss. Thanks to CSA farms, a sense of community can arise among their members. This guaranteed consumer demand, plus the volunteering from their members, make CSA farms crisis-resilient4. Moreover, a CSA farm model offers more economic opportunities for workers5. In a survey conducted in the US6, over 55% of surveyed farmers indicated that the profitability of their CSAs had increased since they started their business.
Moreover, CSA also follows agroecological principles7 that indicate that no chemicals should be used. Instead, they use techniques such as organic fertilizers or biological pest control to fight pests on the farm. Impacts on the soil could be reduced by using no-tilling methods, which decreases soil erosion. In this kind of agriculture, much is done manually instead of using fossil fuel machinery. In CSA farms, there is often a low carbon footprint because the delivery from farms to consumers is usually located in food hubs in the cities or at the farm. Thus, people can easily access vegetables and other products from CSA farms.
The connection with nature that CSAs offer has several benefits for humans. Some studies confirm that being surrounded by nature or walking in a park has benefits for our mental health8. It helps to reduce stress. Moreover, taking care of a garden is beneficial for people suffering from long-term sickness, which is why they are starting to introduce these initiatives in many hospitals9. Furthermore, when people are more aware of the nature around them, it also makes them eager to know more about the local fauna and flora. This helps to appreciate the local biodiversity, and hence, it supports the conservation of species.
Getting familiar with CSA farms
Still, these innovative and sustainable farms remain quite unknown among the population. It is considered more as a niche rather than a mainstream agricultural model10. They tend to be more expensive than the food in supermarkets, which limits its accessibility to everyone. However, many CSA farms try to include free trials or support systems for people with less income, so they can also partake in this initiative.
Popularizing alternative, local, and environmentally-aware farming models can help to provide more sustainable agricultural and food systems. Thus, getting to know alternative and innovative farming models such as CSA could promote the uprising of more innovative farms. Getting familiar with how the food is produced at the farm through these innovative examples could be the first step forward toward more sustainable agricultural models.
If you are wondering how you could get involved in a CSA and partake in the community, check out the local CSA network or association in your region. For example, in Flanders (Belgium), you can get more information about this farming practice and see all locations on a map on the website: www.csa-netwerk.be.
References:
- Timmermans I. & Van Bellegem L., 2022. De biologische landbouw in 2021, Departement Landbouw
en Visserij, Brussel. - More details of the history of CSAs are available in this link: https://urgenci.net/csa-history/
- European CSA Research Group, 2016. Overview of Community Supported Agriculture in Europe.
- Bonfert B., 2022. ‘What we’d like is a CSA in every town.’ Scaling community supported agricultural across the UK. Journal of Rural Studies 94: 499-508
- Chiffoleau and Dourian 2020
- Timothy Woods, Matthew Ernst, and Debra Tropp. Community Supported Agriculture – New Models for Changing Markets. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, April 2017. Web.
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 2019. The 10 elements of agroecology. Guiding the transition to sustainable food and agricultural systems.
- Stigsdotter U.K., Ekholm O., Schipperijn J., Tofttager M., Kamper-Jorgensen F., Randrup T., 2010. Health promoting outdoor environments – Associations between green space, and health, health- related quality of life and stress based on a Danish national representative survey. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 38(4).
- Wichrowski M., Whiteson J., Haas F., Mola A., Rey M., 2005. Effects of horticultural therapy on mood and heart rate in patients participating in an inpatient cardiopulmonary rehabilitation program. Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation 25(5): 270-274.
- Bonfert B., 2022. ‘What we’d like is a CSA in every town.’ Scaling community supported agriculture across the UK. Journal of Rural Studies 94: 499-508.