Doing community supported agriculture: Tactile space, affect and effects of membership

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a direct-marketing food network that has the potential to decommmodify food and support farmers while providing consumers with sustainably raised, seasonal, local food. Through an ethnographic exploration of one CSA, we describe the processes, practices, affect and effects of consumer membership within the context of non-representational theory. Carolan (2007) suggests that when non-representational ways of knowing are fostered through long-term embodied involvement in tactile space, deep commitments to the environment and others are encouraged. This study augments understandings of tactile space. Findings show that members engage in the tactile spaces of CSA (e.g. attending distribution, cooking more), but with varied effects: leading one member to voice compassion for the farmer which is something you don't feel in a supermarket while another admits feeling like I've been conned. In spite of mixed experiences and affects, on balance we conclude that CSA membership does affect environmental ethics. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved,