Community Supported Agriculture Farmers’ Perceptions of Management Benefits and Drawbacks

Antonella Samoggia, Chiara Perazzolo, Piroska Kocsis and Margherita Del Prete
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Antonella Samoggia: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40125 Bologna, Italy
Chiara Perazzolo: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40125 Bologna, Italy
Piroska Kocsis: Department of Vegetable and Mushroom Growing, Szent István University, 1118 Budapest, Hungary
Margherita Del Prete: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40125 Bologna, Italy

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-21

Abstract: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a direct partnership between producer(s) and a group of consumers/members to share the risks and responsibilities of farming activities. CSA aims at producing and providing environmentally, socially, economically, and nutritionally sustainable food. Past research has focused on CSA members’ motivations. This research aims to gain a better understanding of CSA farmers’ perceived benefits and drawbacks in managing a CSA farm, and whether CSA management perception varies in different countries. The research collected data from 35 farmers that were based in the United States (US) and Hungary (HU). Data elaboration includes a one-way Anova test, Chi-square test, principal component analysis, and multiple multivariate linear regressions. The results support that US and HU farmers have similar positive perceptions of CSA farming management, especially in food quality, nutritional value products, environmental, and community benefits. The main differences concentrate on economic, financial, and management perceptions. CSA success as an alternative agro-food production and distribution system relies on the capability to involve CSA members. Therefore, CSA farmers’ management skills may evolve to ensure the performance of communication and community engaging practices. The main CSA concern is ensuring a fair income and living wage for the farmers and labor force. There is a need for better balancing non-monetary and monetary benefits for the farmers.

Keywords: community supported agriculture; farmers; perception; benefits; drawbacks; management; farm (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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