Community-supported agriculture

Community-supported agriculture is a partnership in which consumers pay a farm in advance or by subscription and receive part of its harvest, sharing production risks with farmers.

CSA share: A recurring portion of a farm’s harvest allocated to a participating household or member. The share is the basic unit members buy and receive through a CSA.
Vegetable box scheme: A recurring service that delivers or supplies boxes of seasonal vegetables to subscribers. Many CSAs organize member harvests as regular boxes of seasonal produce.
Teikei: A Japanese partnership model linking consumers and farmers through direct food distribution and shared commitments. Teikei is a close Japanese precedent for contemporary CSA partnerships.
Farm income: Money a farm earns from selling agricultural products and services. Advance CSA payments can provide income before the growing season’s sales.
Farm subscription: A recurring payment arrangement that provides access to a farm’s products or services. Advance subscriptions provide farms with income before crops are harvested.
Community-supported fishery: A partnership in which consumers subscribe to receive seafood from a fishery, sharing some uncertainty in catch and supply. It adapts the CSA model to seafood and variable catches.
Rudolf Steiner: An Austrian philosopher and educator whose lectures founded anthroposophy and influenced biodynamic agriculture. Steiner’s agricultural ideas helped shape one stream of CSA’s European roots.
Food sovereignty: The right of people and communities to shape their own food systems and agricultural policies. CSA participation can give communities closer ties to food production and local farms.
Harvest distribution: The process of allocating and delivering harvested crops to buyers or other recipients. Distribution turns a farm’s harvest into the produce members receive.
Community-supported agriculture for meat: A farm subscription model that supplies members with meat from animals raised by the farm. Some CSAs offer meat shares instead of, or alongside, produce.

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