Characteristic Factors for Community Supported Agriculture Popularization: A Case Study on Food Products Other Than Vegetable Producers in the Northeastern U.S.A.

概要

In harmony with the local food movement, community-supported agriculture (CSA) 1) in the United States has become increasingly widespread and diverse. CSA is a direct transaction of local food products with mutual understanding between farmers and consumers. CSA began at two farms located in the northeastern United States in the 1980s. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (2012) Census of Agriculture, there are 7,398 farms2)in the United States selling products directly to consumers through their running CSAs. The CSA model has now extended to the United States and Europe, Oceania, and Asia (Henderson and Van, 2007; Lyson, 2004).

　CSA shares generally consist of vegetables. CSA models that have become common inside and outside the US deal in vegetables as well, but they initially includes meat, seafood, grain, bread, and dairy products.

　Robyn Van En, one of the advocators who practiced CSA for the first time in 1986, stated in his book "Sharing the Harvest" that the most important primary goal of CSA is as follows.

　A primary goal of CSA is to develop each site to its most diverse and sustainable potential, so animals invariably come into that equation[2007,p173].

　Van En (2007) described meat and eggs as CSA distribution items. In addition, they highlighted that CSA myriad possibilities would be increased by providing a variety of food products to members in cooperation with a wide variety of farmers. Local Harvest, the CSA directory platform website in North America, introduces CSA foods such as eggs, homemade bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and flowers, in addition to vegetables. However, CSA foods are not very popular or widespread, except for vegetable. Why? The primary objective of this study was to discuss the possible reasons.

　Most previous studies on CSA dealt with vegetable CSAs, with food product CSAs other than vegetables being quite limited. For one of a few instances, Galt et al. (2019) and Smith et al. (2019) proposed CSA diversity of foods and services for the members3). The equivalent CSA for seafood is a community-supported fishery (CSF)4). Regarding CSF, Godwin et al. (2017) investigated the economic viability of CSF systems. On the other hand, Campbell et al. (2014) investigated differences and common denominators regarding vegetable CSA and CSF. Except for CSF, prior studies, which refer to cross- sectional comparison or discussion in terms of other food product CSAs, have rarely been conducted.

　Several studies on CSA in Japan have been conducted, but few have discussed food product CSAs. Hatano (2013) and Karasaki et al. (2012) focused on the realization or establishment of CSA systems in Japan. Murase et al. (2010) dealt with other food products, such as eggs, rice, and bread, not as CSA distribution but as farm items for sale. Nakagawa (2012) discussed a rice CSA case study for sustainable local community development, but categorized it as an exceptional CSA product.

　On the contrary, White (2015), who explains the possibility of food product CSAs, points out that the CSA model has become widespread because of its flexibility in definition, philosophy, and operating methods. On paper, flexibility means that CSA does not require any definition or rules regarding management and operation. CSA management systems can be arranged appropriately depending on the demand of producers and members. He named CSA systems that applied to fisheries, bakeries, and breweries as field community-supported enterprises (CSEs). He underlined that CSEs make use of the reputable identity and cultural clout of vegetable CSAs. Henderson (2007), who advocated CSA movements across the world, makes much of the diversity of this movement rather than the tight definition of CSA or the criteria for identifying "the true CSA farm." In her opinion, diversity means that moving with time, the traditional CSA system has become more diversified and developed in several respects, including its modes of operation, distribution, payment, delivery, and collection.

　Their statements were highly suggestive and significant. However, empirical analyses are too limited, and further practical case studies are required. This paper aims to analyze the features and economic benefits of food product CSAs and discuss the factors developed by the research of established cases. Specifically, this study streamlines other food CSA hallmarks based on their analyses and discusses their management methods compared to vegetable CSAs. Furthermore, this study examines the future challenges of the widespread use of CSAs in the future. In particular, the methods of research targets and areas are described in Section 2, followed by a concise explanation of the results in Section 3. Section 4 discusses the comparison based on the results, and Section 5 presents the conclusions.

　Enhancement of food product CSAs popularity is indispensable for CSA development and growth because the diversity of CSA food products will encourage producers and members to increase the number of CSAs. In some regions, there is already recognized price-slashing competition in vegetable CSAs due to saturation. Under these circumstances, vegetable CSA farms can be financially improved and revitalized by introducing eminent management systems to enhance food product CSAs.