Community supported agriculture as a domain of economic exchange: models, social capital and performance of three community supported agriculture groups in Turkey

doi:10.30682/nm2103c

Abstract

Community supported agriculture (CSA), an innovative food distribution model that encourages environ-mentally sound agricultural production, has been embraced in Turkey since the early 2000s. Although the model has been widely studied within the framework of ethical consumption, environmentalism and social justice, its perspectives as a domain of economic exchange in Turkey has yet to be explored. The present study attempts to investigate the viability of CSAs in Turkey as domains of economic exchange by looking at the interaction between their performance and their main resource, namely their social capital. Following an exploratory approach, we, first, examined the characteristics of the operational, organizational and sup-port models to determine the performance factors indispensable for CSAs in Turkey to survive as domains of economic exchange. We then expanded this understanding by looking into the relationship between these performance factors and social capital indicators of three CSAs in Turkey. The findings reveal that each CSA adopts different support, operational and organizational models that result in different levels of risk shar-ing. In all three CSAs, the character of the social capital that interacts with the performance indicators is bonding rather than bridging. Therefore, investing in bridging social capital can be a potentially beneficial strategy for CSAs in order to become more sustainable as domains of economic exchange.

Highlights

The increased potential of the global food system in terms of abundant food supply has brought on several negative ecological and social externalities i.e. environmental degradation, high emissions of greenhouse gases, biodiversity loss, livelihood crisis for farmers, food insecurity and related health issues which are becoming more and more apparent (Roe et al, 2019; IPES-Food, 2016)
We identified the following research question: “What is the relationship between social capital and performance of Community supported agriculture (CSA) in Turkey?” where performance indicates a set of indispensable factors that ensures the survival of CSAs as domains of economic exchange
This study was conducted to shed more light on the relationship between the main resource of CSAs and a set of factors that are indispensable for their survival as domains of economic exchange, namely, social capital and performance, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The increased potential of the global food system in terms of abundant food supply has brought on several negative ecological and social externalities i.e. environmental degradation, high emissions of greenhouse gases, biodiversity loss, livelihood crisis for farmers, food insecurity and related health issues which are becoming more and more apparent (Roe et al, 2019; IPES-Food, 2016). Based on a partnership between the farmer and the group of consumers, the CSA model attempts to create a direct agricultural market where the risks and benefits of environmentally sound agricultural production are shared among equal partners (Baronov, 2018; Hinrichs, 2000). While not every CSA adopts the traditional share model, they all are based on the idea of partnership that challenges the established food regime in different ways (Ostrom, 2007). In most CSAs, volunteer members of the community coordinate all necessary tasks related to the distribution of the produce (Van Oers et al, 2018; Çelik, 2016; Flora and Bregendahl, 2012; Ostrom, 2007). Most CSAs often organize social or educational events (Firth et al, 2011; Hinrichs, 2000)

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