The issue of food procurement, associated with the necessity
to reconnect urban consumers with the farming rural territories, has turned into one of the major urban challenges in
France. Policies encourage Alternative Food Networks
(AFNs) and Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), known as
cycle court or circuit court, in order to feed cities and consider this as a top priority for sustainable urban planning.
Association de Maintien de l’Agriculture Paysanne1 (AMAPs)found their growth due to the convergence of two factors,
one national, one local. The national factor can be attributed to
the slow deterioration of the situation of the French farmers
since the end of World War II. The local factor is related to the
fact that urban food supply has turned into an integral part of
new policies for sustainable urban development.
Association de Maintien de l’Agriculture Paysannes
deliberately oppose industrial farming and advocate in their
charter for small-scale farming and direct links between
farmers and consumers. AMAP subscribers prepay the farmer for the crops and are encouraged to visit the farm
and to support actively the farmer in case of climate hazards. According to this principle of solidarity, members
may be associated with ‘‘shareholders’’ from Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA), forms of ‘‘subscribing
farming’’ that developed in North America in the 1990s
and that encourage an ethic of land stewardship as consumers finance directly the farmer through advance purchase of ‘‘shares’’ (fresh weekly produce from the farm).
Close links also exist between CSAs and Community
gardens, especially when the CSA is driven directly by
consumers. An example is provided by the city of Madison,
Wisconsin, USA, where non-profit groups succeeded in
appropriating land for community gardening after longterm negotiations with local authorities, though the land
was first devoted to be on sale for real estate developers.2
This initiative gained momentum as it established an
organic urban farm (Troy Community Farm) in an area of
five acres on Madison’s North side after 2001 (Troy Gardens 2014). The CSA became the core activity of the farm
and members (‘‘shareholders’’) started to receive their
shares for 21 weeks between June and October. This gave
them the opportunity to meet farmers, harvest fruits and
vegetables and communicate with neighboring farms.
By encouraging an ethic of land stewardship, such an
association between Community gardening and CSA helps
build and maintain a sense of community and establish a
connection for urban residents with the land. We may also
say that these programs help to explain the value of local
food and sustainable alternative food systems and expand
the principles of Community food education.
French AMAPs also emphasize the existing links between
Man and Nature, between the city and the countryside as urban
members are actively invited to take part to gardening at the
farm. Some AMAPs even started to organize urban community gardening as this is the case for AMAPs run by students.
In light of these preliminary findings and while AMAPS
and CSAs both contribute to promote alternative food
networks, I started to investigate potential resemblance
between these two sorts of organizations and opted for an
approach based on a student AMAP. The following presents my assessment based on ethnographical fieldwork on
the campus of Aix-Marseille University