from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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JAFSCD is the world’s only community-supported journal. JAFSCD content is open access (free) thanks to the generous support of our shareholders: the JAFSCD Shareholder Consortium, Library Shareholders, a growing number of Individual Shareholders, and our six JAFSCD Partners: |
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Community supported agriculture (CSA) programs offer consumers access to fresh, local foods in exchange for an up-front subscription payment. The consumer often pays for the subscription before the harvest season without detailed knowledge about what products they will receive. Over the past few years, this direct-to-consumer production and distribution model has become more visible to consumers due to cost-offset programs and the integration of food assistance funds. This research looked at the consumer values of both subscribers and nonsubscribers to an employer-sponsored CSA voucher program at the University of Kentucky.
The emergence of new shareholder types has prompted the following research question: “What values influence the decisions of different consumer segments on whether to join a CSA pro-gram?” This study, published in the article Understanding consumer values of participants in a cost-offset community supported agriculture (CSA) program, sought to reveal differences in perception of CSAs by consumer segments defined by particular value sets. The researchers expected that individuals who decided to subscribe to a CSA likely prioritize a different set of consumer values than nonshareholders. With these differences defined, CSA farmers might market different aspects of the CSA experience to expand their potential shareholder base.
KEY FINDINGS
The findings indicate that nonshareholders are comparatively more concerned with the cost and convenience of a CSA than shareholders. For shareholders, affordability and convenience are minor concerns. Instead, they value the potential health and environmental impacts (i.e., sustainability) of their subscription as well as produce quality. Both segments prioritize values (quality, health benefits, and local impact) that extend beyond a simple transaction. However, one area that is less valued is the potential for CSA to generate relationships in their communities. This includes the community variable (family, friends, and peers) and the farm connect variable, which is about having a direct relationship with one’s farmer. Farmer education and culturally appropriate products were the least important values for both groups.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH
- The affordability of CSAs is integral to attracting more shareholders. Affordability was a concern for future nonsubscribers and undecideds for 2023.
- Employers, community organizations, and other institutions have an opportunity to develop and fund different types of incentive programs that lower the cost of participation more effectively.
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A different approach might be to tie CSA to health benefits. All customer segments in this study, except for the extremely experienced shareholders, ranked the health aspect of CSA in their top five values.
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A new JAFSCD article explored strategies for broadening participation in CSA programs. The researchers found that the most effective strategies are centered on making the model more affordable and understandable. #CSA #shareholdervalue #costoffset #consumervalues Read more on the implications and successes of CSAs in the @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.033
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Photo above: The cover of the JAFSCD summer issue is drawn from this article. University of Kentucky employees and retirees on a health plan may choose a US$100 or US$200 voucher toward the cost of a community supported agriculture (CSA) share from one of UK’s partner farms. Participants receive a weekly box of local produce at their chosen pickup location. Cover design by Kristin Cruser, Marketing/Promotion Specialist Senior, University of Kentucky.
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Food security is defined “all people, at all times, having regular and reliable physical, social, and economic access to sufficient safe, nutritious and culturally relevant food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences.” Resilience, or the ability to adapt, recover, and sustain food security initiatives despite adversities and changing circumstances, is critical to navigating community stressors. The food system is a complex interconnection between organizations and stakeholder groups and their interlinked value-added activities, such as production, distribution, processing, consumption, and disposal of food products. When the food system falters from community stressors, families’ household food security may experience immediate and long-term consequences.
In a new JAFSCD article, Supporting resilient food systems: Navigating challenges in U.S. rural communities, the authors note that "while agriculture and food production are often associated with rural communities, this does not always translate into food access within the community . . . [often] having to navigate limited access to fresh, affordable, and high quality nutritious food."
KEY FINDINGS -
Community-based efforts to address food insecurity have highlighted opportunities to increase food access in rural communities through social and physical environment support across the food system.
- The availability of funding also emerged as a critical contextual factor influencing the effectiveness and sustainability of food-security initiatives.
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Community key informants (CKI) discussed how they relied on both formal and informal relationships that existed before the pandemic for adaptive or innovative action toward community needs during the pandemic.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH CKIs shared factors that shaped their approach to rural food systems action in alignment with these framework areas: - Rural community stressors, conditions and characteristics,
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Formal and informal community network structures,
- Social capital,
- Community capacity, and
- Rural food system resilience.
All areas remained important to resilience in a time of community stress, but the organizations interviewed also expressed strategies they utilized for support that were not in their previous scope of work. Understanding approaches used during the recent COVID-19 community stressor can provide direction for resilient sustainable capacity planning in rural, family-serving organizations—even in times of unexpected community stress.
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Five years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, in the rural foodscapes of the U.S., organizations need to invest in professional development and hiring practices to deepen their understanding of diverse life experiences. They should also encourage an open exchange of knowledge with partners to build trust and enhance capacity for resilience. #rural #covid19 #foodsystems #resilience #supplychains Read the full @JAFSCD article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.143.038
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Photo above: Workers have some fun at the Youth Farm in Ithaca, New York, USA. Photo © 2020 by Amy Christian. |
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The cover image represents the University of Kentucky's innovative employee-benefit community supported agriculture (CSA) program, which provides a voucher to offset the cost for employees and retirees. |
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Books Available for Review
Need some summer reading and like to review one and share your thoughts with JAFSCD’s readers? Fill out the quick review query form linked on our home page (right margin, Engage with JAFSCD > Propose a Book Review). You can also use the form to suggest other films, books, or reports for review. The selected reviewer will receive free access to the film or the book (hard copy or e-book).
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How to Create a Sustainable Food Industry, by Melissa Barrett, Massimo Marino, Francesca Brkic, and Carlo Alberto Pratesi
From the publisher:
"This book presents a practical guide to help businesses navigate the complex topics of sustainability in the food industry. The book takes you on a journey along the food value chain, from farm to fork, exploring key opportunities to increase positive impacts and circularity at each step of the journey. Written by a team of authors with decades of experience in the food industry and academia, it provides guidance on how to analyze sustainability across the value chain and life cycle of a food product and how to design, implement and communicate strategies to customers. Furthermore, the book shows that there are not always straightforward solutions, but rather choices and trade-offs that require an understanding of what is best suited to the product, customers and business in question."
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Junk Food Politics: How Beverage and Fast Food Industries Are Reshaping Emerging Economies, by Eduardo J. Gómez
From the publisher:
"Why do sugary beverage and fast food industries thrive in the emerging world? ... Despite government commitment to eradicating noncommunicable diseases and innovative prevention programs aimed at reducing obesity and type 2 diabetes, sugary beverage and fast food industries are thriving. But political leaders in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, India, China, and Indonesia are reluctant to introduce policies regulating the marketing and sale of their products, particularly among vulnerable groups like children and the poor. Why?"
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The Quinoa Bust: The Making and Unmaking of an Andean Miracle Crop, by Emma McDonell
From the publisher:
"Quinoa rose to global stardom pitched as an unparalleled sustainable development opportunity that heralded a bright future for rural communities devastated by decades of rural-urban migration, civil war, and state neglect. The Quinoa Bust is based in a longitudinal ethnography centered around . . the main quinoa production area in the world’s chief quinoa exporting country. This book traces the social, ecological, technological, and political work that went into transforming a humble Andean grain into a development miracle crop and also highlights that project’s unintended consequences. . . . At a time when so-called forgotten foods are increasingly positioned as sustainable development tools, The Quinoa Bust offers a cautionary tale of fleeting benefits and ambivalent results."
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Be part of a sustainable solution!
Our food system is not sustainable and must be transformed. Climate change, corporate control, resource depletion, and food insecurity threaten communities worldwide. Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Sustainable Food Systems & Security (SFSS) graduate certificate equips you with the knowledge and perspectives to make an impact as a sustainable food system leader.
This six-course online program critically examines contemporary food systems through a sustainability lens, systems thinking, and real-world change. Explore food systems reform, grassroots movements, and community engagement, culminating in an applied community capstone course to help shape a more sustainable future where you live.
Explore KPU’s SFSS program | |
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