Community Supported Agriculture Farmers’ Perceptions of Management Benefits and Drawbacks

Antonella Samoggia,Piroska Kocsis,Chiara Perazzolo,Margherita Del Prete

doi:10.3390/su11123262

Abstract

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a direct partnership between producer(s) and a group of consumers/members to share the risks and responsibilities of farming activities. CSA aims at producing and providing environmentally, socially, economically, and nutritionally sustainable food. Past research has focused on CSA members’ motivations. This research aims to gain a better understanding of CSA farmers’ perceived benefits and drawbacks in managing a CSA farm, and whether CSA management perception varies in different countries. The research collected data from 35 farmers that were based in the United States (US) and Hungary (HU). Data elaboration includes a one-way Anova test, Chi-square test, principal component analysis, and multiple multivariate linear regressions. The results support that US and HU farmers have similar positive perceptions of CSA farming management, especially in food quality, nutritional value products, environmental, and community benefits. The main differences concentrate on economic, financial, and management perceptions. CSA success as an alternative agro-food production and distribution system relies on the capability to involve CSA members. Therefore, CSA farmers’ management skills may evolve to ensure the performance of communication and community engaging practices. The main CSA concern is ensuring a fair income and living wage for the farmers and labor force. There is a need for better balancing non-monetary and monetary benefits for the farmers.

Highlights

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a direct partnership between a group of consumers, called members, and producer(s), whereby the risks, responsibilities, and rewards of farming activities are shared through long-term agreements
Results support that United States (US) and HU farmers have similar perceptions of CSA farming management, and they have divergent views on a limited number of benefits and drawbacks
Farmers believe that CSA farming delivers a good quality agro-food produce share (Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a direct partnership between a group of consumers, called members, and producer(s), whereby the risks, responsibilities, and rewards of farming activities are shared through long-term agreements. CSA aims to provide quality food that are produced in an agroecological way [1,2]. CSA agreement consists in payments for agricultural produce, product delivery, and ways of collaboration between CSA farmer and members [4,5]. The origin of CSA cannot be exactly identified, as it evolved separately and simultaneously in different countries. It can take different forms as farmers and members shape it to their own needs and expectations. CSA is a worldwide phenomenon, which is spreading in certain countries in Africa, South America, and, in the last years, in the Oceania region

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