Leveraging Social Change Through Collective Purchasing

Holly Chaille

doi:10.5304/jafscd.2014.042.009

Abstract

In the dedication page of Beyond Alternative Food Networks, Grasseni quotes from Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason: "There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience." Her selection may serve as an indicator that Grasseni's experience as a member of a solidarity purchase group (a group of people who purchase directly from growers and producers) is the basis for her argument that these community collaboratives can be powerful structures for addressing and improving more than local food issues. A conscientiously systematic and democratic approach that stresses inclusion as opposed to homogeneity, she posits, can be applied more broadly within communities to address economic sustainability.

Highlights

O n the dedication page of Beyond Alternative Food Networks, Grasseni quotes from Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: “There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.”
A reader hoping to compare community supported agriculture (CSA) and Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale (GAS) models will learn that they are not all that similar, as CSAs emphasize a farmer-to-customer relationship, a facet of ethical consumerism, whereas a GAS by definition is reliant on the group relationship with the farmer or source of goods
This is an important distinction, as it would seem unlikely that the American habit of “looking out for number one” precludes us from the collective consumer behavior Grasseni describes as the basis for co-production, detailed further in chapters 2 and 3. This is not to imply that we here in the U.S can’t affect change singularly or work together as a group as a GAS does, but it is a point of departure and explains why there is not more discussion in this book of the CSA model

Summary

Introduction

O n the dedication page of Beyond Alternative Food Networks, Grasseni quotes from Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: “There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience.” Her selection may serve as an indicator that Grasseni’s experience as a member of a solidarity purchase group (a group of people who purchase directly from growers and producers) is the basis for her argument that these community collaboratives can be powerful structures for addressing and improving more than local food issues.

Results

Conclusion