CSA has certainly changed much since DeLind (1999, 8) “wonder
[ed] if a CSA [could] be individually owned.” My point has been to
use the commodity practice lens to interrogate the art of scaling-up
a market in a good whose value depends on socio-ecological
context. The lens can be a good framework for future work that
investigate emerging forms of local foods exchanges in CSAs, food
hubs, and other institutions and their consequences. It will be
useful for scholars who wish to examine, say, farms’ use of hoophouses to extend production without having to see this as riskhedging, but instead as how farms give crops “added” value as
meaningful commodities. Commodity practice will also illustrate
the diversity of ways farms within the local foods movement come to scale their operations. Commentators should fi rst grapple with
the nature of this diversity before passing judgment