Solidarity seems to be an important element in the relationship, since 15.4 % of the respondent
claimed that their most important reason for joining ASAT was to support local farmers. One onsumer explicitly commented about getting involved "first of all out ofsocial solidarity. By
contributing with my money I wanted the farmer to have a decent salary and social security;
we share the risk in the case of calamity." However, consumers are still more focused on the
quality and health effects of the products. A former core-group member stated that "The social
aspect held a lower level of importance for the majority." However, there were instances in
which consumers displayed a high level of solidarity with their farmer. For example, Farmer 3
managed to buy a used car with funds from his consumers to avoid to be forced to rent
transportation for his deliveries. A CRIES staff member accounted that "he won the appreciation
of a part of his consumers who wanted to organize a fundraiser to support him. This idea was
initiated by 2-3 consumers and continued with a public event." Although they refrain from
volunteering for the partnership, consumers embrace CSA as a solidarity economy practice to
a considerable degree, confirming thus Hypothesis 2.
For the farmers solidarity is an important element as they need to rely on the consumers to
regularly pick up and pay for their shares. Farmer 3 stated that "the people who are always
late, or forget about picking up their produce, maybe we shouldn’t renew the partnership with
them. If the share always remains there for a few days, that means they have no respect for my
work.