Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Norway - A ... - SIFO

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CSA can be seen as one possible alternative to the WTO-policy: It provides local argumentsfor a local agriculture. And the cost of this agriculture is transparent to the shareholder.2.3. Three pilot-CSAs2.3.1. Øverland farmThe farm is located in the outskirt of Oslo towards the best west . It is a point of departurefor hikes and skiing into the surrounding forest area. The farm is owned by Norges Vel, - theorganization running this project. One problem is that the present production is dominated bymonoculture of grain, - it will take some time to achieve a manifold in the product spectre.The potential is substantial. In this CSA, there is a special opportunity for extended learningactivities by cooperation with two local schools. Their first season is well in progress, and aparticular part of the CSA-farm is devoted to a school garden. The curriculum refers to thefarm as the extended classroom .2.3.2. Solør two farmsSolør is a region located 2,5 -3 hours drive NE of Oslo, in a very scarcely populated area.There are two family farms already cooperating about machinery and marketing, and theywant to extend their cooperation into a CSA. Together they have a wide range of organicproducts like vegetables, different kinds of meat, grain, as well as forest products, hunting andfishing. One of the farms is involved with social work as well, offering work for people withspecial needs.2.3.3. Hadeland/Ringerike three farmsThis is situated about one hour NW of Oslo in a middle populated area. Two family farmsand one farm owned by a trust doing social work want to cooperate. Together they offer awide range of products, like Solør.2.4. Models for organizationOne level is to organize the cooperation between the farms within one CSA. Another level isto organize the cooperation between the farm(s) and the consumers. The latter is the mostinteresting here, and there are many alternatives; There are examples of trusts, different kindsof companies with limited responsibility, or simply a looser association. This is partly aquestion of attitudes and ideals, and partly a question of more pragmatic legal adaptations.3. How can CSA contribute to consumer responsibility?We ar e all f ar mer s act ive or passive , (W. Stränz, member of Buschberghof CSA, Germany).3.1. Sharing of responsibility and rewardsCSA is based on the idea of cooperative ownership to the production, but not necessarily thefarm. Consumers share the responsibility for the production by buying shares in theproduction for one year ahead, participate in the planning of the season, and in most casesthey pay part of the cost in advance. In this way the consumers very directly share the risk andrewards of any agronomic and climatic variation of the produce.6
3.2. Alternative to global world marketCitizens may choose to buy food through local alternatives to the global conventional foodsystem. CSA is such an alternative. Examples of the concerns one may address whenchoosing organic foods from the local community are the problems related to theenvironmental costs which are often externalised in the conventional food production.Calculations estimate that food in the United States travels an average of more than 2 000kilometres 9 before it reaches the end-consumer, and that food processing, packaging,transportation, and marketing accounts for approximately 75 to 85 per cent of the energyconsumed in the food system 10 (Hendrickson et al. 1995). There is reason to believe that thesituation is similar in Europe. In a recent calculation of the environmental costs of the UKfood basket, the authors concluded that it is clear that actions to reduce farm and food mileexternalities, and shift consumers decisions on specific shopping preferences and transportchoices would have a substantial impact on environmental outcomes (Pretty et al. 2005).In order to share responsibility in the consumer role, information, insight and knowledge isimperative. Several researchers have pointed out that the distance and complexity in the foodsystem is a severe challenge in relation to taking responsibility as a consumer/citizen. JackKloppenburg and Sharon Lezberg are among them:How can we act responsibly and effectively for change if we do not understand how the foodsystem works and our role within it? (Kloppenburg and Lezberg 1996)From this perspective, distance is a problem in terms of citizen involvement in how our foodis produced. Several aspects of distance come into play - both in terms of spatial distance,temporal distance, and distance of mind (Lieblein et al. 2001). It is by means of providing analternative to such situations characterised by distance, formalised systems of information,and trust in abstract systems that CSAs may offer a qualitatively different context for foodprovisioning and community building. Following the American author and ecologist WendellBerry (1992), we agree that direct experience is a powerful way to involvement and care.Here is his advice about how to eat responsibly :Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experience if possible, of the lifehistories of the food species .He further elaborates on the connections he sees between the enjoyments of the food productsas such, and the insight into the history behind the food:The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. ( )The knowledge of the good health of the garden relieves and frees and comforts the eater. Thesame goes for eating meat. The thought of the good pasture and of the calf contentedlygrazing flavors the steak. ( ) A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one s accurateconsciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes. The pleasure of eating, then,may be the best available standard of our health. (Berry 1992; 378).91 300 miles (2 092 km). The Packer 1992 referred in Hendrickson et al. 199510Hendrickson, J. (1995) Energy Use in the Food System , Presentation given at Regional Food SystemsSeminar, Centre for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wosconsin-Madison, referred in Hendricksonet al. 1995.7
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