Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

CSA shareholder food lifestyle behaviors: a comparison across consumer groups

  • Published:
Agriculture and Human Values Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Community supported agriculture (CSA) programs are transforming the way people relate to food and agriculture. Many researchers have considered the transformative potential of CSAs on economic, social, and environmental relations. They illustrate how participants are embedded in broader political economic transformations. The same focus, however, has not been given to CSAs’ transformative impact on individual shareholders—especially in terms of their relationship to food and health. We draw together literatures from behavioral economics, econometrics, and political ecology to evaluate the potential impacts of CSA participation on food lifestyle behaviors. Using primary data drawn from a survey of four groups with distinct food acquisition environments, we compare respondents’ self-assessed food-related behaviors along three different categories: (1) produce versus processed food consumption, (2) food away from home consumption, and (3) food acquisition and interest in nutrition. By documenting between-group differences, we confirm that shareholders display significant absolute differences to other groups along numerous indicators related to the above-stated categories and in general assessments of health. These differences correspond directionally to behaviors public health officials identify as correlated to beneficial health outcomes. We conclude by theorizing how the food environments delineated by a CSA exchange relationship provide unique reflexive opportunities for participants to develop diverse food-related skills and behaviors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. See http://www.lohas.com for detailed discussion on how different LOHAS consumer groups are categorized.

  2. For CSA shareholders this question was phrased ‘what factors caused you to join your CSA initially?.’

  3. This observation draws from the work of practice theorists, but is based on the lead author’s experience and collaboration with volunteers in ecological restoration projects.

References

  • Allen, J. IV, J. Rossi, T. Woods, and A. Davis. 2017. Do community supported agriculture programmes encourage change to food lifestyle behaviours and health outcomes? New evidence from shareholders. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 15(1): 70–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellavia, A., S.C. Larsson, M. Bottai, A. Wolk, and N. Orsini. 2013. Fruit and vegetable consumption and all-cause mortality: A dose-response analysis. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 98(2): 454–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beydoun, M.A., L.M. Powell, and Y. Wang. 2009. Reduced away-from-home food expenditure and better nutrition knowledge and belief can improve quality of dietary intake among US adults. Public Health Nutrition 12(3): 369–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaikie, P., and H. Brookfield 1987. Land degradation and society. London: Methuen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boeing, H., A. Bechthold, A. Bub, S. Ellinger, D. Haller, A. Kroke, et al. 2012. Critical review: Vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases. European Journal of Nutrition 51(6): 637–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, C., and S. Miller. 2008. The impacts of local markets: A review of research on farmers markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). American Journal of Agricultural Economics 90(5): 1298–1302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clary, C.M., Y. Ramos, M. Shareck, and Y. Kestens. 2015. Should we use absolute or relative measures when assessing foodscape exposure in relation to fruit and vegetable intake? Evidence from a wide-scale Canadian study. Preventive Medicine 71: 83–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J.N., S. Gearhart, and E. Garland. 2012. Community supported agriculture: A commitment to a healthier diet. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 7(1): 20–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coyte, P., and D. Ryan. 1991. Subscribe, cancel, or renew: The economics of reading by subscription. The Canadian Journal of Economics 24(1): 101–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosby, R.A., L.F. Salazar, and R. DiClemente. 2013. Value-expectancy theories. In Health behavior theory for public health, eds. R.J. DiClemente, L.F. Salazar, and R.A. Crosby, 65–82. Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

  • Curtis, K. R., K. Allen, and R. Ward. 2015. Food consumption, attitude, and behavioral change among CSA members. Journal of Food Distribution Research 46(2): 3–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dauchet, L., P. Amouyel, S. Hercberg, and J. Dallongeville. 2006. Fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of coronary heart disease: A meta-analysis of cohort studies. The Journal of Nutrition 136(10): 2588–2593.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLind, L. 2011. Are local food and the local food movement taking us where we want to go? Or are we hitching our wagons to the wrong stars? Agriculture and Human Values 28(2): 273–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durrenberger, E.P. 2002. Community supported agriculture in Central Pennsylvania. Culture & Agriculture 24(2): 42–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feenstra, G.W. 1997. Local food systems and sustainable communities. American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 12(1): 28–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, J.D., and W.A. Fisher. 1992. Changing AIDS-risk behavior. Psychological Bulletin 111(3): 455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, D.A., S.K. Choi, T. Hurley, E. Anadu, and J.R. Hébert. 2013. A farmers’ market at a federally qualified health center improves fruit and vegetable intake among low-income diabetics. Preventive Medicine 56(5): 288–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabszewicz, J., and N. Sonnac. 1999. Subscription as a price discrimination. Louvian. Economic Review 56(4): 421–433.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galt, R.E. 2013. The moral economy is a double-edged sword: Explaining farmers’ earnings and self-exploitation in community-supported agriculture. Economic Geography 89(4): 341–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goland, C. 2002. Community supported agriculture, food consumption patterns, and member commitment. Culture & Agriculture 24(1): 14–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graddy, T.G. 2014. Situating in situ: A critical geography of agricultural biodiversity conservation in the Peruvian Andes and beyond. Antipode 46(2): 426–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grossman, L.S. 1998. The political ecology of bananas: Contract farming, peasants, and agrarian change in the Eastern Caribbean. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guthman, J. 2012. Opening up the black box of the body in geographical obesity research: Toward a critical political ecology of fat. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102(5): 951–957.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guthman, J., and B. Mansfield. 2013. The implications of environmental epigenetics: A new direction for geographic inquiry on health, space, and nature-society relations. Progress in Human Geography 37(4): 486–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harmon, A.H. 2014. Community supported agriculture: A conceptual model of health implications. Austin Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2(4): 1024.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayden, J., and D. Buck. 2012. Doing community supported agriculture: Tactile space, affect and effects of membership. Geoforum 43: 332–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes-Conroy, J., and A. Hayes-Conroy. 2013. Veggies and visceralities: A political ecology of food and feeling. Emotion, Space and Society 6: 81–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinrichs, C.C. 2000. Embeddedness and local food systems: Notes on two types of direct agricultural market. Journal of Rural Studies 16(3): 295–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horlings, L.G., and T.K. Marsden, 2011. Towards the real green revolution? Exploring the conceptual dimensions of a new ecological modernisation of agriculture that could ‘feed the world’. Global Environmental Change 21(2): 441–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kant, A. K., and B. Graubard. 2004. Eating out in America, 1987–2000: Trends and nutritional correlates. Preventive Medicine 38(2): 243–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, B. 2010. Political ecologies of health. Progress in Human Geography 34(1): 38–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kloppenburg, J. Jr., J. Hendrickson, and G. Stevenson. 1996. Coming in to the foodshed. Agriculture and Human Values 13(3): 33–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs-Smith, S.M., P.M. Guenther, A.F. Subar, S.I. Kirkpatrick, and K.W. Dodd. 2010. Americans do not meet federal dietary recommendations. The Journal of Nutrition 140(10): 1832–1838.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, R. 2012. Bridging political ecology and STS: A field analysis of the Rosgen Wars. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 102(2): 366–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lock, M. 1993. Cultivating the body: Anthropology and epistemologies of bodily practice and knowledge. Annual Review of Anthropology 22: 133–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Low, S., A. Adalja, E. Beaulieu, N. Key, S. Martinez, A. Melton, A. Perez, K. Ralston, H. Stewart, S. Suttles, S. Vogel, and B. Jablonski. 2015. Trends in U.S. Local and Regional Food Systems. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, AP–068.

  • McCormack, L.A., M.N. Laska, N.I. Larson, and M. Story. 2010. Review of the nutritional implications of farmers’ markets and community gardens: A call for evaluation and research efforts. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 110(3): 399–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mol, A. 2002. The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Monteiro, C.A., R.B. Levy, R. M. Claro, I.R.R. de Castro, and G. Cannon. 2011. Increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods and likely impact on human health: Evidence from Brazil. Public Health Nutrition 14(1): 5–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moubarac, J.C., A.P.B. Martins, R.M. Claro, R.B. Levy, G. Cannon, and C.A. Monteiro. 2013. Consumption of ultra-processed foods and likely impact on human health. Evidence from Canada. Public Health Nutrition 16(12): 2240–2248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nietschmann, B. 1979. Ecological change, inflation and migration in the far western Caribbean. The Geographical Review 69 (1): 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nost, E. 2014. Scaling-up local foods: Commodity practice in community supported agriculture (CSA). Journal of Rural Studies 34: 152–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Hara, S. U., and S. Stagl. 2002. Endogenous preferences and sustainable development. The Journal of Socio-Economics 31(5): 511–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oh, K., F.B. Hu, J.E. Manson, M.J. Stampfer, and W.C. Willett. 2005. Dietary fat intake and risk of coronary heart disease in women: 20 years of follow-up of the nurses’ health study. American Journal of Epidemiology 161(7): 672–679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oster, S.M., and F.M. Scott Morton. 2005. Behavioral bias meet the market: The case of magazine subscription prices. Advances in Economic Analysis & Policy 5(1): 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom, M.R. 2007. Community supported agriculture as an agent of change. Is it working? In Remaking the North American food system: Strategies for sustainability, eds. C.C. Hinrichs, and A.T. Lyson, 99–120. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peet, R., P. Robbins, and M. Watts. 2010. Global political ecology. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perez, J., P. Allen, and M. Brown. 2003. Community supported agriculture on the central coast: The CSA member experience. Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems 1–4.

  • Produce for Better Health Foundation. 2015. State of the Plate, 2015 Study on America’s Consumption of Fruit and Vegetables. http://www.pbhfoundation.org/pdfs/about/res/pbh_res/State_of_the_Plate_2015_WEB_Bookmarked.pdf. Accessed 21 Nov 2015.

  • Quandt, S. A., J. Dupuis, C. Fish, and R. B. D’Agostino, Jr. 2013. Peer reviewed: Feasibility of using a community-supported agriculture program to improve fruit and vegetable inventories and consumption in an underresourced urban community. Preventing Chronic Disease 10: 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, P. 2002. Obstacles to a First World political ecology? Looking near without looking up. Environment and Planning A 34: 1509–1513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, P. 2011. Political ecology: A critical introduction. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, W.S., and L. Zepeda. 2008. The adaptive consumer: Shifting attitudes, behavior change and CSA membership renewal. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 23(2): 136–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sabih, S.F., and L.B. Baker. 2000. Alternative financing in agriculture: A case for the CSA method. Acta Horticulturae 524: 141–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schatzki, T. 2001. Introduction: Practice theory. In He practice turn in contemporary theory, eds. K. Knorr-Cetina, T. Schatzki, and E. von Savigny, 10–23. London: Routledge

    Google Scholar 

  • Shepherd, G.M. 2006. Smell images and the flavour system in the human brain. Nature 444(7117): 316–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stallins, J. A. 2012. Scale, causality, and the new organism–environment interaction. Geoforum 43(3): 427–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Story, M., K.M. Kaphingst, R. Robinson-O’Brien, and K. Glanz. 2008. Creating healthy food and eating environments: Policy and environmental approaches. Annual Review of Public Health 29: 253–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuckler, D., and M. Nestle. 2012. Big food, food systems, and global health. PLoS Medicine 9(6): 678–682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sumner, J., H. Mair, and E. Nelson. 2010. Putting the culture back into agriculture: Civic engagement, community and the celebration of local food. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 8(1–2): 54–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2010. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 7th Edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Uribe, A.L.M., D.M. Winham, and C.M. Wharton. 2012. Community supported agriculture membership in Arizona. An exploratory study of food and sustainability behaviours. Appetite 59(2): 431–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, J.L., T.J. Farrell, and A. Rangarajan. 2015. Linking vegetable preferences, health and local food systems through community-supported agriculture. Public Health Nutrition 18: 2392–2401.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woods, T., and D. Tropp. 2015. CSAs and the battle for the local food dollar. Journal of Food Distribution Research 46(2): 17–29.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service through the 2014 Farmers’ Market Promotion Program under Grant 14-FMPPX-KY-0072.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA

    Jairus Rossi & Alison F. Davis

  2. Department of Economics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    James E. Allen IV

  3. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA

    Timothy A. Woods & Alison F. Davis

Authors
  1. Jairus Rossi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James E. Allen IV
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Timothy A. Woods
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Alison F. Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jairus Rossi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rossi, J., Allen, J.E., Woods, T.A. et al. CSA shareholder food lifestyle behaviors: a comparison across consumer groups. Agric Hum Values 34, 855–869 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-017-9779-7

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-017-9779-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation