Community-supported agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the practice of farming with a greater than usual degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders.

The idea behind CSA is for each participant to contribute equal amounts of labor and capital and in return receive an equal share of the production, with management by consensus. CSAs grew out of subscription farming and the food cooperative movement of the 1970s. Many CSAs avoid use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers. Vegetarians are overrepresented among CSA members.

Most real-world CSAs have a few designated people who provide the labor and management, hired help, or both. Some sell excess goods to nonmembers. Vegetables are the most common crop, with fruit occasionally grown.

There is no documented case of the CSA model being applied to meat production.