Research & reports

Mattia Andreola · Discover Sustainability · Italy (Trento)

This study conducted three years of ethnographic research, including participant observation, in-depth interviews, and quantitative data analysis, on "NaturalMente in Trentino," a CSA initiative in Trento, Italy. The research revealed multiple lock-in points, indicating that CSA constraints stem from organizational inefficiencies, deeply rooted cultural and behavioral habits such as the use of private gardens or a preference for supermarket convenience, and rigid institutional frameworks like cooperative dominance in the local agri-food regime.

Songül Kesen, Eda Elgin Kılıç · Özgür Yayınları eBooks · Global

Sustainable food is a concept integrating environmental, social, and economic dimensions to ensure food system sustainability. It aims to reduce environmental impacts, ensure food security, and promote healthy nutrition, often associated with plant-based diets. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) models have potential to strengthen local food systems and environmental sustainability by encouraging local community participation in agricultural production.

Jonathan H. Hanson, C Lynn Collins, Tiziana O'Hara, Matthew Williams · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · United Kingdom

This study explored community farming in Northern Ireland, defining it as a collaborative transformation process at the intersection of land, community, and enterprise. Using Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology over two years, it quantified the cumulative impacts of nine diverse community farming projects. The overall SROI ratio was 3.52:1, with 90% of the value being social, 8% environmental, and 2% economic.

Dailey Fischer, Roberta Romano, Mariana Monteiro Kugler Batista, Mario Prokopiuk, Valério Alécio Turnes, Carlos Alberto Cioce Sampaio · Ambiente & sociedade · Brazil (Curitiba)

An exploratory survey (N=401, n=144) was conducted to assess food waste patterns among consumers involved in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives in the Central Urban Core of Curitiba, Brazil. The results showed that participation in CSAs does not significantly influence consumer behavior regarding food waste. This indicates a need for sustainable consumption education and context-specific solutions.

Davit Markosyan, Vardan Aleksanyan, Sargis Gevorgyan · AgriScience and Technology · Armenia

This study investigated the relationship between food security and waste management in Armenia's agri-food system, analyzing data from 2005 to 2022. Findings indicate that increased imports, use, and exports of food commodities are linked to higher food loss. Recommendations include improving infrastructure for food imports, enhancing supply chain efficiency, investing in better storage, and applying circular economy principles like community-supported agriculture (CSA) to reduce waste.

Virgínia Gomes de Caldas Nogueira, Laércia Abreu Vasconcelos · Revista de Gestão e Secretariado (Management and Administrative Professional Review) · Global

This systematic literature review aimed to identify studies on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members' pro-environmental, prosocial, or health-related behaviors, particularly those using a psychological approach or from other behavioral science fields. The review found that psychology studies on CSA members' behavior patterns are rare, despite the multidisciplinary scientific community's interest in these behaviors for food and planetary preservation.

Hesty Nurul Utami, Resti Arini, Tomy Perdana, Sulistyodewi Nur Wiyono, Dini Turipanam Alamanda, Dinar Mariam Kurniati · Agrisocionomics Jurnal Sosial Ekonomi Pertanian · Indonesia (Bandung)

This quantitative study, using SEM-PLS with 60 respondents from an urban Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Bandung City, Indonesia, investigated the effect of customer experience, product knowledge, and customer involvement on electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) for organic vegetables. The results indicate that customer experience, product knowledge, and customer involvement significantly influence E-WOM. The findings offer implications for marketing organic products in online communities to enhance consumer trust and promote CSA sustainability.

Hal Crimmel · ISLE Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment · Global

Daniel Philippon's latest book examines the production, processing, and consumption of sustainable food, focusing on the prolific work of agricultural writer Wendell Berry, Italian Slow Food advocate Carlo Petrini, and chef and writer Alice Waters. The book explores the central question: "How did nonfiction writing, as exemplified by the work of these three authors, shape the sustainable food movement?" Philippon's experience volunteering on a Wisconsin CSA farm provides context for probing Berry's ideas about agricultural practices.

Matthias Middendorf, Christian Herzig · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · Global

This study conceptualizes the diversity of Economic Actors striving for Food Sovereignty (EAFS) at the organizational level through an integrative literature review of 108 publications. It proposes a framework with three themes: conditions shaping EAFS, their economic-related characteristics along the agri-food supply chain, and their organizational-related characteristics. The framework reveals that EAFS combine alternative and conventional elements in varying configurations, highlighting food sovereignty as a multifaceted organizational phenomenon.

Bree Bode, Sarah L. Mott, Jacob M. Cutler, Nicole Jess, Sarah Panken, Marci Scott · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · United States (Michigan)

Nutrition education was provided to SNAP-eligible shoppers at Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) sites in Michigan. This multi-phase, mixed-methods study evaluated the delivery of nutrition education, shopper needs, and behavioral outcomes through outcome surveys, staff feedback, educator activity logs, and focus groups with shoppers and educators. Results indicated significantly higher fruit and vegetable consumption among shoppers compared to national SNAP incentive participants, and qualitative themes included relating over transacting and personalized experiential education.

Lena Schmeiduch, Émile Thévenot · International Review of Education · Global

This study explored the potential for lifelong learning within sustainability-led initiatives, such as ecovillages and community-supported agriculture, through the theoretical lens of Noah Sobe's four pillars of lifelong education. While these initiatives offer opportunities to address sustainability-related challenges, their insular nature and limited accessibility have drawn criticism in the literature on sustainability transitions. The analysis suggests that these initiatives and lifelong learning agendas frequently converge in their framing of sustainability issues.

Anna Birgitte Milford, Daniel Keech, Sarah Wangui Muiruri · Agricultural and Food Economics · Europe

This survey study explored differences in organizational models and member characteristics of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Norway and the UK, focusing on factors contributing to member contentment, mental health, and vegetable consumption. Norwegian CSA members participated more actively in cultivation and harvesting and more often prepaid subscriptions than British members. In both countries, CSA membership was perceived to improve members' quality of life, vegetable intake, and physical and mental health, with more active members reporting higher satisfaction and stronger positive effects on vegetable consumption and mental health.

Leonie Guerrero Lara, Baldur Kapusta, Jessica Duncan, Giuseppe Feola · International Journal of Politics Culture and Society · Germany

This article analyzes the German Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) network's political advocacy efforts between 2018 and 2022 to strengthen the movement and induce change in the industrial agri-food system. The study found that the network's organizational structure, or lack thereof, influences advocacy strategies, resources, and group dynamics. It concludes that advocates should consider their movement's organizational structure in relation to advocacy, including tensions around member participation and the visibility of advocacy work.

Stefan Galley, Stefan Mann, Patrick Bottazzi · Societies · Switzerland

A survey of Swiss allotment garden (AG, n=201) and community-supported agriculture (CSA, n=250) members revealed how prosumers perceive the benefits of their activity and how these experiences shape their likelihood to continue. AGs enhance production-related individual benefits, while CSAs foster positive experiences around consumption activities. AG continuation is driven by experienced health and food-related benefits, whereas CSAs rely on the communal and organizational involvement of their members.

S. GopalaSundara Raj, Halavath Tharunkumar, R. P. Srivastava, Mukesh Kumar Singh, Manindra Nath Upadhyay · Asian Journal of Environment & Ecology · Global

This study explores the economic and environmental benefits of green cultivation, encompassing organic farming, community-supported agriculture, and sustainable land use. Economically, it offers increased profitability, improved market opportunities, and enhanced food security, while environmentally, it supports biodiversity, improves soil health, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Case studies from Spain and Egypt demonstrate the effectiveness of these sustainable farming methods.

Bernd Bonfert · · Global

A brief reference entry describing community-supported agriculture (CSA) as a collaborative grassroots innovation in which farmers and consumers share the costs and outputs of food production. It states that by joining a CSA, consumers agree to cover the costs of a farming operation over a defined period, in exchange for a share of the harvest.

Julia Spanier · Geoforum · Germany

A 2025 paper examines how community supported agriculture (CSA) performs and shapes rural-urban relations, based on four CSA initiatives in Germany. It finds that CSA does not automatically nurture "good intentions" between the urban and the rural, but can foster material solidarity and mutual understanding between urban consumers and rural producers. At the same time, it finds that hierarchical rural-urban relations, or rural/urban autonomy, may also be enacted within CSA, and that CSA can in some cases deepen processes of alienation between the rural and the urban, arguing that investigations of rural-urban relations in CSA must go beyond assessing producer-consumer relations alone.

Siu Hou Chong, Paw Lan Tai, Chen Yee Teh, Siao Hoong Sam, Ning Hii, Jia Yi Tan, M D Isa M. Saffiuddin, Jia Hao Lau, Chee Yuan Ng, Chiou Woan Leng · World sustainability series · Malaysia

This is a case description of Koperasi Kongsi Selangor Berhad (Kongsi Co-op), a Malaysian consumer co-operative. The co-op connects local producers and consumers through community-supported agriculture and community-supported education, promoting organic farming, sustainable practices, ethical business, and lifelong learning. It reports having overcome financial and resource constraints by building an internal culture and network.

Agustin Windianingsih, Mulki Siregar, Estu Mahanani, Aisyah Hikmatur Romadhonah, Nihlah Hariro Romadhona, Urvia Rahmadani, Adinda Putri Salsabila Salvi, Idham Nur Kholiq · Jurnal SOLMA · Indonesia (Jakarta)

This report describes a community-service activity (PKM) conducted by Universitas Islam Jakarta with D'Shafa, a farming community in Jakarta focused on urban agriculture development, aimed at strengthening food security and economic welfare. The activity followed five method stages — education, training, technology application, evaluation, and program sustainability — with the goal of helping the D'Shafa Women Farmers Group (KWT) create value-added processed products. The activity produced value-added products through the use of a vacuum-frying machine for making fruit and vegetable chips, and it broadened KWT D'Shafa members' knowledge of preparing simple and digital financial reports and of digital marketing.

Stefan Galley, Rita Saleh, Patrick Bottazzi · Cleaner and Responsible Consumption · Global

This between-subjects online experiment examined how information about the benefits of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shapes non-members' perception of those benefits, their perceived relevance, and willingness to join, alongside trust, subjective knowledge, sustainable food shopping behavior, political orientation, and sociodemographics. 754 respondents were randomly assigned to six groups: five each exposed to information on one benefit (nutritional, sustainability, solidarity, transparency, or community), plus a control group. Regardless of the information given, farmers were perceived to benefit most from CSA, followed by society, then the individual; participants themselves ranked individual benefits and environmental sustainability as most important, followed by solidarity with farmers, transparency, and community. Higher perceived overall CSA benefit was associated with higher willingness to join. Information on solidarity, nutrition, and community was most effective for young, educated, and often female respondents, while nutrition-focused information reached environmentally conscious, conservative consumers; information on nutrition and environmental sustainability produced the highest willingness to join overall.

Sarah Steinegger, Nora Katharina Faltmann · Journal of Political Ecology · Global

A qualitative study of a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiative in Switzerland that links a rural mountain area with urban consumers (Journal of Political Ecology, 2025) examined institutional, organizational, cognitive, social, and experiential proximity between consumers and farmers despite geographical distance. The study found that consumers and farmers faced challenges in establishing proximity, but that shared experiences from farming activities and social events, along with participants' willingness to improve CSA operations and strengthen ties, contributed to an ongoing process of building proximity.

Monika Onyszkiewicz, Marta Sylla · Sustainability · Poland

This study surveys the current state of active Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) groups in Poland, identifying active CSA farms and analyzing their offers, reach, and member characteristics, motivation, and involvement. As of when the study was conducted in 2023/2024, 13 food-producing farmers were inventoried across 35 groups, reaching an estimated 1,200 people. Drawing on the experience of CSA communities elsewhere in Europe, the study concludes that an umbrella organization is needed to network Poland's CSA community and support active farmers through advocacy, education, and coordination of CSA development at the national level.

Aldona Glińska‐Neweś, Paweł Brzustewicz, Iwona Escher, Yusheng Fu, Anupam Singh · Food Quality and Preference · Global

Two studies comparing consumers and non-consumers of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) examined whether participation strengthens environmental, social and health consciousness and sustainable behavior. CSA consumers showed higher environmental and social consciousness than non-consumers, with social consciousness increasing over the course of participation, and reported more sustainable consumer behavior extending beyond food to other spheres of consumption.

Honoka TAHARA, Takafumi OISHI · 農村計画学会誌 · Japan

An internet-based questionnaire survey of students, faculty and staff of a Faculty of Agriculture in Japan examined the feasibility of introducing Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) into university-regional cooperation. Awareness of CSA was low and prior participation limited, but respondents tended to rate CSA favorably as a university-regional cooperation initiative; ordered logistic regression showed willingness to pay CSA membership fees was associated with occupation, prior experience (home delivery, farm work), interest in food, CSA awareness, favorable evaluation of CSA for cooperation, and intention to participate in non-purchasing CSA activities.

Tanja Kähkönen, Joshua Finch, Michael den Herder · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · Global

This paper describes community supported agriculture (CSA) as a collaboration model for food production, distribution and consumption involving farmers and consumers. It notes that CSA consumers can include individuals and families as well as other consumers such as restaurants, schools and kindergartens.