We seek to answer two questions. First, are those who
participate in civic agriculture more likely to be engaged
in their communities than conventional food buyers, as
the civic agriculture thesis suggests? Second, are there
differences in levels of community engagement among
those involved in different types of civic agriculture?
Data was gathered from over 1,300 residents of the MidHudson region of New York State in order to assess these
associations. Our results lend support to the idea that local
agriculture and the associated networks of food distribution do indeed strengthen communities in a number of
ways. While there are some sampling limitations, namely
that this study focuses on one region of New York State,
the study is unique in that it utilizes data on multiple
forms of participation in civic agriculture: CSA membership, patronizing farmers markets, and shopping at
independent local food retailers. The results show that,
taken together; those engaged in these forms of civic
agriculture are more involved with their communities
than the general population. In addition, when comparing
those engaged in different forms of civic agriculture,
community engagement measures correlated in ways that
would be expected given the degree of social embeddedness of different market practices. CSA farms, which
allow members to purchase shares that entitle them to a
portion of the weekly harvest, represent the most socially
embedded form of civic agriculture practices, and it is
here that we find the strongest positive association with
political and civic engagement (Hinrichs 2000). Less
socially embedded market exchanges within the civic
agriculture spectrum, such as farmers market shopping or
buying local produce from an independent retail market,
indicate correspondingly less community participation.
Yet, all civic agriculture participants are engaged with
their communities at higher rates compared with the
general public on almost all measures. This is true even
when controlling for indicators known to be associated
with civic engagement such as age, education, and income
(Putnam 2000; Verba et al. 1995). While this study only
focuses on certain types of community engagement, based
on these common and reliably used measures, we find
support for the civic agriculture thesis.