Community Supported Agriculture Projects Reap Lasting Rewards
Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between farmers and the local community, providing mutual benefits and reconnecting people to the land where their food is grown.
The Soil Association is hosting a one-day conference in Bristol on 16 September 2011 to mark the end of a successful five-year project helping to support the development of CSA in England and to celebrate what has been achieved.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has a significant effect on the life, health, skills, and general well-being of those involved, with a striking 70% of participants saying their overall quality of life has improved, according to the initial findings of the Soil Association's CSA project evaluation.
The evaluation also found that CSA projects impact positively on the local community, benefit surrounding wildlife, encourage a diverse volunteer base, and provide important employment opportunities.
The project has been funded by the Big Lottery via the Making Local Food Work partnership. The future of CSA in the UK will be discussed and speakers from overseas will inspire, inform and give advice on how to develop the growing, but relatively young, movement here.
A wide-range of CSA schemes will be showcased, demonstrating the diversity of those involved.
The CSA concept covers a wide range of enterprises in which communities are more closely linked to their food and share the risks, as well as rewards, of production.
They give farmers a more secure income and consumers a positive reconnection with the land and their community. The CSA movement began in the 1960s and has strong roots in Japan, the United States and elsewhere in Europe, becoming established in the UK in the 1990s.
With interest now growing rapidly there are over 80 active initiatives in the UK, involving thousands of members, with an average of 69 trading members per CSA project.
These findings confirm the positive impact that CSA projects have not only on those involved but also on their surrounding community, economy and environment. The Soil Association has been supporting the development of CSA for 10-years and it makes us proud to see the movement really start to take shape here in the UK and grow so dynamically.
As part of our conference we want people involved in the relatively new UK CSA movement to hear how CSA has evolved abroad. The international CSA community is a very active one, and it is important for our UK CSA schemes to have an opportunity to feel part of a bigger network and be aware of how things are done elsewhere to give them perspective on developments in the UK, and provide inspiration about the UK movement's potential to grow and evolve.
Bonnie Hewson, CSA project manager at the Soil Association
