European Handbook on Community Supported Agriculture
2013
This publication is an outcome of the multinational partnership “Com- munity Supported Agriculture for Europe” that has been formed in order to spread and strengthen the idea of community supported agriculture (CSA) all over Europe and build connections between coun- tries where CSA is a tried and tested method of .providing food and promoting sustainable agriculture in countries where it is (currently) relatively unknown. During the partnership many personal exchanges took place between farmers, co-farmers (consumers), students, ac- tivists etc. and many new relationships have been established among CSA supporters.
This publication seeks to describe the essential aspects of what CSA has been found to mean within the partnership and and offers some basic tips on how to get started with it. This document is aimed at people who are aware of the problems of the contemporary food sys- tem and are willing to tackle it with an active, community and solidari- ty-based approach represented by the three letters C S A.
The CSA idea of course does not stand alone but it is closely linked
to many other concepts that have been developing in the field of sustainable food system among civic society in recent years. It is embraced by the food sovereignty issue through its emphasis on the right to locally appropriate food. It builds upon innovative approaches to economics (known variously as the “gift economy”, “solidarity economy”, “economy for the common good” etc.) in that mutual commitment and the sharing of risks and rewards are its essential components. In terms of farming the CSA concept is strongly tied to the organic agriculture movement, although it generally doesn’t share the movement’s emphasis on formal procedures such as certification and labelling: informal, personal relationships are the foundation on which CSA arrangements are built. Last but not least the CSA con- cept seeks to build on the successes of existing alternative local food initiatives; it does not seek to replace these initiatives.