Research & reports

James Worstell · Journal of Agriculture Food Systems and Community Development · Global

This paper examines the resilience of food systems during the COVID-19 disruption. It notes trends such as direct food delivery, online farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), backyard food production, expansion of seed producers and plant nurseries, and increased home cooking. These trends are viewed as complex adaptive systems.

Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Ágnes Neulinger, Fanni Bársony, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Natasha Gjorevska, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Orsolya Lazányi, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, György Pataki, Sándor Takács, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem, Anna Török, Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem · Marketing & Menedzsment · Hungary (Budapest)

This study investigated subjective well-being (SWB) among 23 consumers of alternative food networks (AFNs) in Budapest through in-depth qualitative interviews. Participation in AFNs was found to contribute to consumer well-being, yet some AFN characteristics negatively influenced consumer SWB. Differences were detected between new and experienced users, users with different motivations, and across different types of AFNs.

Olga Vincent, Giuseppe Feola · Journal of Rural Studies · Global

This paper proposes and illustrates a framework for recognizing capitalist, alternative capitalist, and non-capitalist configurations in agri-food systems. Informed by poststructuralist theories, the framework includes dimensions such as ontology, economic relations, relation with the State, and knowledge. Its application to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) cases shows the coexistence of capitalist, alternative-capitalist, or non-capitalist elements within CSA initiatives.

Wellbrock Wanja, Daniela Ludin, Ludwig Lisa N, Kristina Muhlfeld, Wolfgang Gerstlberger · Journal of Applied and Physical Sciences · Global

This paper examines whether Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a solution to the dilemma of farmers needing to operate both economically and sustainably. Through an expert interview and a survey of members, the study identifies problems in the realization of a CSA and provides possible solutions.

Ferne Edwards, Anitra Nelson · · Global

This chapter suggests future research directions in food for degrowth studies, drawing from a collection of case studies and critiques. It offers transdisciplinary theoretical and practical approaches and key research questions, covering topics like household self-provisioning, collective endeavors, networks, and degrowth perspectives on the circular economy and food waste. The chapter proposes research questions related to accessibility, visibility, temporality, spatiality, and various measures.

Mariarosaria Savarese, Kerry Chamberlain, Guendalina Graffigna · Sustainability · New Zealand

This qualitative study explored how Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in New Zealand create value for sustainability practices from both farmer and consumer perspectives. The research, conducted using focused ethnography, found that CSA is a complex concept involving active consumer participation in economic, social, and environmental values. These interconnected values foster an ecosystem where sustainable food practices are promoted through a "learning by doing" process.

Betty T Izumi, Allea Martin, Teresa Garvin, Cesar Higgins Tejera, Sylvia Ness, Katy Pranian, Lauren Lubowicki · PubMed · Global

This study evaluated the preliminary effectiveness of "CSA Partnerships for Health," a 23-week grant-subsidized Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, in improving dietary behaviors, self-efficacy to eat vegetables, food security, and overall health among 48 safety-net clinic patients. This single-group pretest-posttest study utilized interviewer-administered surveys. Statistically significant differences between post-intervention and pre-intervention values were observed for several outcomes, including vegetable intake, orange vegetable intake, eating habits, food security, ability to afford healthy meals, and general health status.

Christina Plank, Robert Häfner, Rike Stotten · Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie · Austria

This paper analyzes Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Austria, examining its values-based production and consumption within the "third food regime" using an interdisciplinary framework. The study found that CSA is currently a niche in Austria, where solidarity, community attachment, and respect for nature are central ideals for members. However, CSA initiatives face institutional, social, and material challenges in daily practices that require attention for their long-term viability.

Sabine Gruber · Frontiers in Psychology · Global

This study compares two models, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Airbnb, to illustrate how trust is formed differently in the sharing economy. In CSA, trust is built through personal relationships and face-to-face communication, while Airbnb promotes trust through its system and technological innovations. A conceptual analysis, adopting Niklas Luhmann's distinction between personal and system trust, describes two different modes of trust formation.

Borgar Aamaas, Robbie M. Andrew · Duo Research Archive (University of Oslo) · Global

This report, part of the SHAR(e)ON project, estimates the effects on emissions of four sharing schemes: community supported agriculture, sharing in local communities, sharing of cabins, and car sharing. The estimates are presented as scenarios or illustrations, not as likely outcomes for emissions.

Zhaohui Wu, Madeleine Pullman · Oxford University Press eBooks · Global

A book chapter surveys sustainable food supply chain issues, introducing the typical actors in food supply chains and the global food system characterized by consolidation and industrialization. It discusses traceability, transparency, certification and standards, and alternatives to industrialized food systems — including cooperatives, community-supported agriculture, and small and medium-sized growers practicing regenerative agriculture — and closes with emerging logistics topics such as last-mile delivery, new technology, and cold chain management.

Ilona Liliána Birtalan, Bernadett Kis, József Rácz, György Bárdos · Egészségfejlesztés · Global

This qualitative study explored the role of social support in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) participation by conducting 35 semi-structured interviews with CSA members. The thematic analysis revealed three types of social support patterns within members' partner/marital relationships. The findings suggest that CSA membership can redefine individual/family consumption patterns, and the characteristics of social support influence the maintenance and duration of membership.

Sonia Aissaoui, Pascale Bueno Merino, Samuel Grandval · · Global

This study discusses the risk of having no contract in a solidarity partnership, specifically Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) formed between an agricultural entrepreneur and consumers, based on an extreme case analysis. Through 47 semi-structured interviews, three non-participant observations, and seven additional semi-structured interviews, findings showed that trust mechanisms can quickly weaken during misunderstandings, exposing partners to the risk of exploiting the agreement. Contractual logic, particularly its coordinating function, complements trust in maintaining the stability of a solidarity partnership.

Daniel Bendix, Franziska Müller, Aram Ziai · · Global

This study examines alternatives to 'development' in the Global North, focusing on community-supported agriculture (CSA), a tenement trust, and the anti-coal movement. It investigates how these cases align with postdevelopment ideas such as non-capitalist practices, new commons, local knowledge, and a break with colonialism. The research questions the universalization of Western development models and their historical hegemony.

Bronwyn Wilkes · ANU Open Research (Australian National University) · Australia, New Zealand

This report presents preliminary descriptive results from a survey of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in 2018. The survey aimed to gather characteristics of CSA farms operating in the region to capture a point-in-time snapshot. The survey was not intended to provide detailed qualitative information regarding the CSA experience in the region, which is anticipated to be explored in a future series of interviews.

Jasmine Lorenzini · Politics and Governance · Global

This article analyzes the action repertoire of food democracy to assess the influence of market-based logics on various forms of food activism. It addresses which forms of political participation citizens use to democratize the food regime, which conceptions of democracy relate to these forms, and which critiques of market-based politics apply. The article highlights the widespread risk of unequal participation, crowding out, commodification, and state retreat across forms of participation used to democratize food regimes.

Antoine Perrin · Working paper/Working paper CIRIEC ... · Global

A study examining that, alongside calls from international institutions and states for food security through large-scale subsidies and improved market access, small initiatives addressing access to healthy, sustainable food are emerging everywhere - farmers' self-help groups, shared gardens, community-supported agriculture, cooperative supermarkets, and similar organisations - and analysing the discourse and practices of 20 such initiatives dealing with agriculture and food. The study drew on roughly 500 hours of fieldwork within the initiatives and 50 interviews with project planners, coordinators, and monitors, chosen from two contrasting social and economic contexts: Nancy, a medium-sized French town, and Ahmedabad, a large Indian city. The results identify two major trends common between France and India and across small farmers, shared gardens, cooperatives, and other social and solidarity initiatives: first, a general call for localised, short food circuits, with producers and consumers seeking a direct connection to each other or growing their own food; and second, participants not claiming to be part of a recent innovative wave but instead falling back on traditional ways to grow, sell, and cook food. The initiatives studied were themselves small in scale, with around 200 participants each.

Ilona Liliána Birtalan, Ágnes Neulinger, József Rácz, György Bárdos · International Journal of Consumer Studies · Global

Using an explorative design, this study examines how spousal involvement affects membership in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a type of alternative food network centered on fresh produce. It identified three patterns of spousal influence: coherent, integrative, and neutral/antagonistic. CSA membership was found to significantly affect lifestyles and often require substantial adaptation, at times leading to a crisis point over whether to remain in or leave the CSA. Spousal support was found to be crucial over the long term, and the study suggests that inconveniences associated with CSA membership could be reduced by providing more information about the importance of that support.

Suzanne Stapleton · Journal of Agricultural & Food Information · Global

An article introduces the "4/5 paradox" in global food production: 80% of food is produced by family farmers, while at the same time 80% of the world's hungry and malnourished people are family farmers and their children. It concerns Urgenci, the international network of Community Supported Agriculture, though the available abstract is truncated and gives no further detail.

Christiana Lackner · KiltHub Repository · Global

This project explored new ways for designers to model human behavior by using social practices, an approach relatively unexplored in design. It extended social practice models into service design to create tools and approaches that support the development of social practices. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), a system where community members buy shares from local farmers for weekly produce, was used as a case study to test these new approaches.

Agni Kalfagianni, Sophia Skordili · · Global

This book explores the potential of short food supply chains (SFSCs) to address environmental, social, and economic challenges in the global agri-food system. It demonstrates that SFSCs, including farmers' markets and community-supported agriculture, offer innovative forms of collective action for local sustainable transformations. The book concludes that alternatives to the dominant agri-food system are possible and thriving, but require concerted effort and collaboration to realize their full potential.

G. R. SCHMIDT · · Global

This chapter discusses the role of urban and community-supported agriculture (CSA) in developed countries, noting that these initiatives, while struggling, contribute to nutrition, personal agency, values, and green education. It also addresses the less immediate connections between wild regional resources, wild biodiversity, and their potential for agricultural innovation and nutrition.

Annie Svensson · · Sweden

This research investigated the economic sustainability of 14 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in Sweden through interviews. The study found that Swedish CSA farms had difficulties covering labor costs and suffered from inefficiency, indicating weak economic sustainability. The study did not identify specific approaches or business models that were more conducive to higher profitability.

Rosario Michel‐Villarreal, Martin Hingley, Ilenia Bregoli · Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) · Global

This systematic literature review aims to clarify the concept of Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) by conducting a thematic analysis of academic definitions. The literature indicates a lack of clarity regarding AFNs, which are often defined by what they are not, rather than what they are. The study seeks to address this knowledge gap and contribute to theory and empirical development.

Jennifer Sumner · Sustainability · Global

This article reviews and synthesizes literature on food, leisure, sustainability, and community economic development to answer whether we can eat our way to sustainability. It begins with John Loxley's approach to community economic development and links the concept of sustainability with McMurtry’s civil commons. The article examines examples of food-related leisure activities like community gardens, CSAs, gleaning, and community kitchens, concluding that sustainability can be achieved if we choose activities that also enable others to eat.