Food and Agriculture
Communities need food to survive. When mainstream agriculture fails to provide the type or quantity of produce needed, these communities seek to create their own sources of fresh food. More affluent communities may also voluntarily purchase locally.
Community Supported Agriculture
In Community Supported Agriculture, community members buy a “share” from the farm in exchange for a set portion of the week’s harvest. This gives farmers the financial security to make long-term decisions and large purchases that might otherwise be too high-risk. It also allows consumers and producers to share the risks and benefits of production.
Related: teikei, farm share
- Robyn Van En Center for Community Supported Agriculture"The Robyn Van En Center provides a national resource center about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for people across the nation and around the world."
- Eating for Your Community: A Report from the Founder of Community Supported AgricultureHistory of and incentives for community supported agriculture.
- History of Community Supported AgricultureDiscussion of "the birth of the CSA movement in the United States as well as the potentials for this growing and successful model of community agriculture."
- Japanese Organic Agriculture AssociationBackground on teikei.
- Community Supported AgricultureEssay based on talk entitled "Freeing the Farmer: CSA—the Catalyst for a New Economy."
Community Gardens
Community gardens provide fresh produce and a gathering place for the community. In food deserts, they are especially important as a food source. In other areas, they can serve as community centers and transform vacant lots into positive spaces.
Related: urban agriculture, local food
- American Community Gardening Association"The American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) is a bi-national nonprofit membership organization of professionals, volunteers and supporters of community greening in urban and rural communities."
- Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the United States: Farming from the City Center to the Urban Fringe"This primer provides an introduction to urban agriculture with a special emphasis on its ability to combat food insecurity in United States cities."
- A dietary, economic and social evaluation of the Philadelphia urban gardening project"This study evaluates the nutritional, social and economic contributions of the Philadelphia Urban Gardening Project, one of the country's largest urban gardens."
- Culturing Community Development, Neighborhood Open Space, and Civic Agriculture: the Case of Latino Community Gardens in New York CityAnalysis based on interviews with latino community gardeners.
Food Sovereignty
"We define food sovereignty as the people's right to define their own policies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution and consumption of food that guarantees the right to food for the entire population..."1
Related: food justice, food security, peasant agriculture
- Food Sovereignty and Trade from Via Campesina[fr][es]News from "We are the international movement of peasants, small- and medium-sized producers, landless, rural women, indigenous people, rural youth and agricultural workers."
- Food Sovereignty: A Right for All from Food First"Political Statement of the NGO/CSO Forum for Food Sovereignty"
- Food Sovereignty: Towards Democracy in Local Food Systems"The purpose of this paper is to show how the Food Sovereignty policy framework has developed and what the basic assumptions and underlying analyses are."
- International NGO/CSO Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC)IPC documents and news.
- Confédération Paysanne (Peasant Confederation)[fr]News from the French peasant movement.
Bibliography
Canada, Ernest. 2006. Food sovereignty: the people's alternative. CIIR.Cone, Cynthia, and Andrea Myhre. 2000. Community-Supported Agriculture: A Sustainable Alternative to Industrial Agriculture?. Human Organization 59, no. 2: 187-197.Cone, Cynthia, and Ann Kakaliouras. 1995. Community Supported Agriculture: Building Moral Community or an Alternative Consumer Choice. Culture and Agriculture Bulletin 48: 28-31.Duram, Leslie A. 2009. Encyclopedia of Organic, Sustainable, and Local Food. ABC-CLIO.En, Robyn Van, Cathy Roth, and University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 199x.Cooperative Extension System. Community supported agriculture: the producer/consumer partnership. University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension System.Henderson, Elizabeth, and Robyn Van En. 2007. Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture. Chelsea Green Publishing.Lamb, G. 1994. Community supported agriculture. Threefold Review.Lyson, Thomas A. 2004. Civic agriculture: reconnecting farm, food, and community. UPNE.Saldivar-Tanaka, L, and ME Krasny. 2004. Culturing community development, neighborhood open space, and civic agriculture: The case of Latino community gardens in New York City. Agriculture and Human Values.Systems, University of Wisconsin--Madison. Center for Integrated Agricultural. 1996. Community supported agriculture: growing food and community. Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Wisconsin--Madison.Windfuhr, Michael, Jennie Jonsen, and FoodFirst Information & Action Network. 2005. Food sovereignty: towards democracy in localized food systems. ITDG Pub. - Food Sovereignty and Trade from Via Campesina[fr][es]