Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) gained increasing attention and experienced rapid growth in the US
and Western Europe over the past 25 years as a special form of direct marketing where producers and
consumers form a connection based on mutual trust, openness, shared risk and shared rewards. This
arrangement can be good for the producers as they develop a direct and long-term relationship with their
consumers, and can possibly concentrate their efforts on growing high-quality produce. CSA can be good for
consumers who may become members of the farm as they can be sure of where their food is coming from
and can get to know more about how it has been produced. CSA can also be good for the environment,
because when producers and consumers of food get together they realize that food security is assured when
farming methods are environmentally sound (Vadovics and Hayes 2010)