Loughridge (2002) said CSA members were not necessarily less interested in the concept
of community because of the increased feelings of busyness, but they were less interested in
actually participating in the CSA community. The idea of community and supporting the local
economy and farmer, Loughridge (2002) maintained, was still important to shareholders. It was
just that those consumers did not have the time to actually participate in the community.
The desire for fresh organic produce, after all, was one of the original inspirations for
community supported agriculture so one should not be surprised if fresh produce was the most
important element of the CSA to the shareholder. Consumers were looking for an alternative to
3 the pesticide-laden monoculture produce available at that time. Picardy (2001) said, “CSA
developed, in part, from discontent with conventional, large-scale agriculture. Thus, CSA was a
deliberate movement to combat the negative environmental, economic, and social externalities
associated with the conventional food system” (p. 51). Back in 1986 community supported
agriculture offered a direct relationship with the farmer growing the food and eliminated the
middleman. The consumer was getting fresh produce and the farmer was getting more of the
profit for the labor involved in producing the food.