What is CSA?
Date Published: 25th June 2022
In the UK, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) takes many forms, with many model variations. The diversity of CSA reflects that CSA farms have grown from grassroots initiatives. As a result, individuals find their way to address the challenges of food production rather than following the set model.
However, all share the common principles of sharing the risks, rewards and responsibilities of food production. We’ve identified four distinct approaches to CSA:
Producer-led
Here a farmer offers a share of production in return for a fixed subscription. The share may vary as some crops do better in some seasons than others, so the risks and rewards are shared. If there is a bumper harvest members will get more, but if crops fail they’ll get less.
The subscription is often payable in advance and over a relatively long period. This gives a secure income for the producer. Most members pay a month in advance and commit for a whole season. This is the most widely-used approach and is also common in France and the USA.
Good examples of producer-led CSA farms include Chagfood and Canalside Community Food.
Community-led
A community-led CSA is set up and owned by the community, which takes on direct responsibility for production. Labour is provided by volunteers and/or employed professionals.
Produce can be distributed among the community and/or sold for the benefit of the enterprise, including using the share-of-the-harvest model.
A lot of smaller CSAs are community-led with lots of the work done by the members on a voluntary basis. At others, the community manages the running of the CSA and employs one or more farmers to produce the food.
Examples of this model include Stroud Community Agriculture and Camel CSA.
Producer-community partnerships
Here the enterprise is owned by the community through a co-operative or similar structure. It works in close partnership with existing producer(s) to provide a secure and long-term supply of produce to CSA members.
In many cases, the farmer(s) already own land but are not able to manage it all. So they work with the local community to set up a CSA to farm some of the land. In other examples, the community helps to grow and harvest on an existing working farm and gets to take home a share of the produce.
Good examples of this model are The Oak Tree Low Carbon Farm and Cambridge Cropshare.
Community-owned farms
A farming enterprise is secured through community investment but does not necessarily trade primarily with the community members. In these initiatives, the community is supporting the farm by investing in it and buying community shares. However, the members or farm shareholders are not necessarily the same as the customers.
Some examples of community-owned farms have been set up when an existing farm needed to be sold. Others are new farms that have been set up after the community, or a land trust has bought the land and leased it out to a farmer.
Fordhall Farm and The Community Farm (Chew Magna) are the best-known examples of this model.
OTHER USEFUL LINKS AND RESOURCES
Introduction to CSA from the Biodynamic Association in the US
https://biodynamics.com/content/community-supported-agriculture
CSA Network UK video on what community supported agriculture means:
A Share in the Harvest – an action manual for community supported agriculture produced by the SoilAssociation:
See more information about What is CSA on our website, including case studies:
https://communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk/case-studies/,
And our CSA Charter:
https://communitysupportedagriculture.org.uk/about/csa-charter/