The Benefits of Community Supported Agriculture

There are many far reaching benefits from being part of a CSA, for you and your family, for the farmer/grower, for the community, for the environment and for the local economy.

The benefits for consumers include:

• receiving fresh food from a known source;· 
• improving their understanding about food production and the real costs involved;
• reconnecting with the land;
• improving their knowledge of seasonality;
• learning about new and traditional varieties of fruit, veg and herbs;
• having access to a farm as a resource for education, work and leisure;
• experiencing improved wellbeing through better diet, physical work, socialising and spending time in the countryside;
• having a sense of belonging to a community;
• being able to influence the local landscape;
• helping a farm make the transition to more sustainable farming methods

The benefits for farmers include:

• a more secure income which improves business planning and time to concentrate on farming;
• a higher and fairer return for their products by selling direct to public and cutting out the middle man;
• the potential to raise working capital and financial support from local communities;
• elevated status in the eyes of consumers through putting ‘the farmer’s face on food’;
• increased involvement in the local community; the opportunity to respond directly to consumers' needs;
• and the opportunity to communicate and co-operate more with other farmers.

The benefits for local communities served by CSA enterprises include:

• improved social networks, social responsibility and a sense of community and trust;
• the environmental benefits of fewer 'food miles', less packaging, ecologically sensitive farming with improved animal welfare;
• a local economy enhanced by higher employment, more local processing, local consumption and a re-circulation of money through ‘local spend’;
• the local tangible evidence of the return of local distinctiveness and care for local land;
• a shift in attitudes to food and farming and therefore a shift in ‘food culture’.

http://www.soilassociation.org/csa.aspx