Title: Socio-economic and ecological transition in community supported agriculture: from the 'transitional' to the 'ideal' CSA

Authors: Roxana Bobulescu; Nhu Tuyen Le; Claudio Vitari; Erin Whittingham

Addresses: Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12, rue Pierre Sémard – BP 127, 38003 Grenoble Cedex 01, France ' Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12, rue Pierre Sémard – BP 127, 38003 Grenoble Cedex 01, France ' Sorbonne Business School, IAE Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 8 bis rue de la Croix Jarry, 75013 Paris, France ' Grenoble Ecole de Management, 12, rue Pierre Sémard – BP 127, 38003 Grenoble Cedex 01, France

Abstract: This paper focuses on the transitional features of community supported agriculture (CSA). Its key contribution is to show the transformational potential of CSA for agricultural system change. The starting point of this research is the 'ideal' CSA model. Instead of a monolithic CSA model, in practice, we find a patchwork of experiences that we group together under the 'transitional' CSA name. We develop a framework that highlights the 'transitional' CSA model and compares it with both the conventional and the 'ideal' CSA. The co-evolutionary approach helps us to understand how CSAs adapt to their context. We use many narratives from the broad literature on CSAs.

Keywords: ecological transition; community building; sustainability; 'ideal' CSA; 'transitional' CSA; degrowth; community supported agriculture; CSA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJARGE.2018.093990

International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, 2018 Vol.14 No.2, pp.122 - 137

Received: 29 Jul 2017
Accepted: 11 Mar 2018
Published online: 10 Aug 2018 *

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