Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs

This Policy Brief examines highlights of CSA farm operations gleaned from a national survey conducted in the summer of 2014 by the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs Illinois Cooperative Development Center for the USDA. The findings discussed here suggest that CSA operations have distinctive characteristics, but face some similar issues to larger, more traditional farms.

During the latter half of the twentieth century, the American food system was transformed by a
technological revolution in American agriculture. While these changes provided benefits such as lower-cost
food, it also generated concerns that the unconditional embrace of technology would harm rural communities
and the environment. Additional concerns were raised about food quality and food safety. Through a case study
of a rural Midwestern farming community, this paper examines how direct consumer to producer marketing
strategies such as community supported agriculture (CSA) and the public’s current fascination with the heritage
of farming may offer a subset of producers and consumers a sustainable alternative to large-scale production
agriculture and the “fast” foods resulting from such production.