The what-how-why of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Difference between revisions

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[[File:Coop-domain.jpg|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|The cooperative domain name “.coop”]]
[[File:Coop-domain.jpg|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|The cooperative domain name “.coop”]]
[[File:signupcsa.png|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|A volunteer presenting her CSA at a local fair]]
[[File:Category_csa.jpg|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|A homemade sign made by volunteers of an Ohio based CSA]]
[[File:Category_csa.jpg|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|A homemade sign made by volunteers of an Ohio based CSA]]
Estimates show that approximately 1 billion people<ref>2012 estimate. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/2014/coopsegm/grace.pdf</ref> are today taking part in a cooperative system. May some of us be using our voices to shape our cooperative or, on the contrary, not actually aware that their are part of one , “the 1 member = 1 voice” system is, in fact, far from being reserved to the political left and second generation hippies. Indeed, more often that not, our banks or insurance providers are based on cooperative structures which have, for more efficiency, relegated the power of the cooperators to smaller groups of cooperators, organised as representatives (often being payed back for their involvement with bonuses and higher salarie). By browsing through various large scale cooperatives, we can in fact identify hierarchical structures (which the cooperative model primarily aims to shield from) which highly remind us of top-down corporative organisations, with one distinct variation: there is no selling of goods or services to “customers” by rather to “cooperators”. The difference seems only to be linguistic.   
Estimates show that approximately 1 billion people<ref>2012 estimate. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/2014/coopsegm/grace.pdf</ref> are today taking part in a cooperative system. May some of us be using our voices to shape our cooperative or, on the contrary, not actually aware that their are part of one , “the 1 member = 1 voice” system is, in fact, far from being reserved to the political left and second generation hippies. Indeed, more often that not, our banks or insurance providers are based on cooperative structures which have, for more efficiency, relegated the power of the cooperators to smaller groups of cooperators, organised as representatives (often being payed back for their involvement with bonuses and higher salarie). By browsing through various large scale cooperatives, we can in fact identify hierarchical structures (which the cooperative model primarily aims to shield from) which highly remind us of top-down corporative organisations, with one distinct variation: there is no selling of goods or services to “customers” by rather to “cooperators”. The difference seems only to be linguistic.   
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== What types of cooperative structures? ==
== What types of cooperative structures? ==
[[File:Appleton_farm.jpeg|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|Week 2 pick up at CSA Appleton farms (Massachusetts)]]
[[File:Appleton_farm.jpeg|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|Week 2 pick up at Appleton farms (Massachusetts)]]
When investigating cooperative structures integrating eaters and farmers, 2 types of systems can be highlighted:  
When investigating cooperative structures integrating eaters and farmers, 2 types of systems can be highlighted:  
<ul>
<ul>
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== CSAs across the world ==
== CSAs across the world ==
[[File:signupcsa.png|thumb|Thumbnailed image]|A volunteer presenting her CSA at a local fair]]
<ul>
<ul>
<li><u>Switzerland:</u><i> Agriculture contractuelle de proximité (ACP)</i></li>
<li><u>Switzerland:</u><i> Agriculture contractuelle de proximité (ACP)</i></li>