Health Center–Based Community-Supported Agriculture: An RCT
Seth A. Berkowitz, Jessica O’Neill, Edward Sayer, Naysha N. Shahid, Maegan Petrie, Sophie Schouboe, Megan Saraceno, Rochelle Bellin
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Urban Farm DB summary
This randomized controlled trial (RCT) tested whether a subsidized community-supported agriculture (CSA) intervention could improve diet quality for socioeconomically vulnerable individuals. Conducted from May 2017 to December 2018, 128 participants from a community health center in central Massachusetts were randomized to receive either subsidized CSA membership or healthy eating information (control group). The intervention group showed a clinically meaningful increase of 4.3 points in the Healthy Eating Index total score (p=0.03) and lower food insecurity (RR=0.68) compared to the control group.