To illustrate the potentials and limitations of emerging local alternatives, this
paper refers mostly to the example of ‘community supported agriculture’ (CSA)
groups. They are local markets with special arrangements between consumers and
producers. The consumers buy at the beginning of the growing season a share of
the farm’s harvest1 and receive in return every week one or two bags of fresh and
organically produced fruits, herbs and vegetables of the specific local farm. These
markets are characterised by face-to-face communication and risk sharing between consumers and producers, organic production techniques and local distribution of
produce.
CSA is one of the more recent social innovations in the food sector. The aim of
these groups is to provide consumers with fresh, locally grown organic food while
at the same time revitalise local food economies. Many argue that the local character and the commitment to organic agriculture are reasons why CSAs stabilise local
food security, protect the environment, and preserve small-scale, family farm type
food production. This type of local food markets is particularly interesting since it
has experienced strong growth in the U.S. over the past few years; currently there
are about 1,000 CSA farms in the U.S. (Hendrickson, 1999).
The paper is organised as follows: Section II discusses the relevance of the
production and consumption dimensions of sustainable food systems. Section III
outlines the theoretical framework. Section IV presents the potentials of local
organic food markets of the CSA type, while Section V shows their limitations.
Section VI concludes.