'What we'd like is a CSA in every town.' Scaling community supported agriculture across the UK

As the Covid-19 pandemic exposes the vulnerabilities of our globalised agri-food system, local sustainable food alternatives, such as community-supported agriculture (CSA), are on the rise. In CSA local farmers and house-holds co-produce food sustainably and independently of the market. CSA???s benefits and shortcomings are well -understood but we know little about how larger CSA networks can expand and consolidate the practice at scale. This paper investigates the UK CSA network, showing its ability to upscale, outscale and downscale CSA through institutionalisation, replication and politicization, before discussing the network???s strategic limitations and dependencies.

Automated summary

As the Covid-19 pandemic highlights the vulnerabilities of the globalized agri-food system, local sustainable alternatives like CSA are gaining popularity. This paper examines the UK CSA network, investigating its ability to expand, consolidate, and discuss its strategic limitations and dependencies.