An analytical framework to measure the social return of community-supported agriculture

Urban Farm DB summary

This study designed and applied a cost-benefit analysis based on the Social Return on Investment (SROI) to five Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives, addressing the lack of objective sustainability indicators. CSAs are local food supply chains characterized by member volunteer commitment, reduction of synthetic inputs in food production, and shortening of the supply chain. Findings revealed that the analyzed CSA case studies demonstrated a limited but positive socio-environmental performance compared to conventional food supply chains, thereby showing they can create real value in terms of social gains and mitigation of environmental impacts.