Food, sustainability and alternative food networks Session 3: Rural food social enterprises: CSAs, the ‘third’ sector and cultural landscapes Dr Daniel Keech Countryside and Community Research Institute University of Gloucestershire, UK dkeech@glos.ac.uk Masaryk University, Brno, 30th March 2022 Overview of the session • Introduction to the idea of social enterprise as a way of organising AFNs striving for sustainable food systems • Review of two types of rural social enterprises in Germany and the UK which show SE business models to achieve:  The conservation of cultural landscapes  The production and supply of organic food and business opportunities for young farmers • We’ll watch a short film about another (different) English CSA followed by a short discussion about key themes. • Short account of a community rural land acquisition scheme • Check progress on the food diary presentations. No breakout rooms today so please join in the discussion. Social enterprise as our sustainability ‘lens’ • The study of social enterprise (SE) has grown since the late 1990s. Huge expectation invested in SE as engine of social change and inclusion (Amin et al. 2002). • One group of SEs = AFNs that apply profits to social or environmental outcomes. (Goodman et al. 2012). • Some AFNs can have a ‘political’ goal – (anti-supermarket, co-operative, fair-trade…) and have been studied using e.g. transition theory (scale), communitarian/Marxian approaches (power) and social innovation (routines). • My case is that SEs are also interesting (and accessible) if considered for how they (i) balance multiple goals and (ii) have ‘agency’ (or impact) in markets. Environmental SEs Traditional non-profit Non-profit with income generating activities Social Enterprise Socially responsible business Business practicing Corporate social responibility Traditional for-profit Alter 2007 – Hybrid spectrum of SE Mission motive Stakeholder accountability Income reinvested in social programmes or operations Profit-making motive Shareholder accountability Profit redistributed to shareholders SEs have a wide range of definitions and organisations forms (Teasdale 2010). Today I’ll suggest that they are: enterprises which trade principally to fund a ‘social’ mission, requiring them to balance a range of commercial and non-commercial objectives (Keech 2016). Some SEs have primarily, or substantially environmental (as well as social?) goals. The ‘mission’ Pictures: Buechele/Dagenbeck; BUND. Decline of 70% in area since 1960s. Juice price is around €6/100kg. Result = unviable. Loss of precious biodiveristy. ‘Disorder’ (Beckert 2007) in the juice market Commercial press Farmers Wholesale Retail logistics apples €€€ Juice products Sales income Problem: inadequate Networked market Press Farmers Juice products apples more ££ Logistics, w’sale, retail parent NGO sets up separate SE contract differentiation Marketing, customers, grants Sales income Civic procurem’t Sales 600,000 litres p.a. Management and replanting. https://www.bund-ravensburg.de/naturschutz-planung/streuobst-saft/ and https://www.nabu.de/natur-und-landschaft/landnutzung/streuobst/ Local food movement emerges in UK from the Third Sector • Negligible contribution in terms of food output but social innovation and new enterprise models ‘more than just the veg’ films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcGdJqrlmRM&list=PLGLfXygsryTD_r3poB 2dXDvNpgj4KLPW_&index=2 1. CSA - What is it? CSA has a number of characteristics which may include: • Shared risk between farmer and consumer (member) • Advanced, or regular payment for food • Co-operative/democratic management • Contribution by members to labour • Access to the farm for education, relaxation… etc. Essentially, it is a way of planning cash-flow and cropping; and may renegotiate the distinction between farmer, landholder, customer. https://www.asociaceampi.cz/co-delame/komunitou- podporovane-zemedelstvi/ Current models include: •Share in the harvest (a proportion of the harvest) •Committed market (a minimum, or informal commitment) •Support group around a farm (events, festivals, markets) •Rent a tree (for fruit – can be non-local) •Do the work yourself (labour for food) •Shares or gifts in the farm capital •Community owned enterprise (see shares above and later) Main point is breadth – one size will not fit all, all schemes are different. Stroud Community Agriculture Community Owned Enterprise • Operates solely to further a set of principles (mission-led) • F/T Farmer + grower paid c.£27,000 p.a. (CzKr 810,000), + 4 day worker, + 3 seasonal (summer staff) • 30 ha. organic mixed farm, 3 locations • IPS members represent 320 households £200,000 turnover (CzKr 6,000,000) (2021)* *Ave. farm business profit for mixed farms in 2020 £22,711 (Farm Business Survey, England). Films: https://www.stroudcommunityagriculture.org/ https://www.agricology.co.uk/file/chagfoods- community-supported-agriculture-csa-chagford-devon What is it for? What are their principles? • To support organic and biodynamic agriculture. • To pioneer new economic model and ensure the farmers have a decent livelihood. • Low income shall not exclude anyone. Practical involvement on all levels encouraged. • To be transparent in all affairs and make decisions on the basis of consensus. • To offer opportunities for learning, therapy and re-connecting with the earth. • To network with others to promote CSA to other communities and farms. • To encourage members, in co-operation with the farmers, to use the farm for their individual and social activities and celebrations. How does it work? • Members pay £3/10CzK subscription, plus £41/1200CzK per month for a vegetable share, which they collect. • Members can buy meat from freezer, and eggs – honesty box and swap box. • Members decide all matters, delegated to a core group, many volunteers. • Farmers have delegated responsibility for farming. • No compulsion for members to be active. • Open access to the farm. • Three rented sites, one very close to Stroud town. •https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaTE9RkqLo8 CSA - Some critical reflections • Too small to affect food system performance • Pricing policies exclusive for some citizens? CSAs used by the educated, wealthy and white (Gutman et al 2009, Gutman 2007) • They can be complex and hard work – relies on high degree of farmer and business skills • Land is expensive if you want to start up • Farmers may appreciate the support of their communities but find the limited/fluctuating sales volumes hard to accommodate • Customers must manage limited choice, seasonality, neophobia (Hanson et al. 2018, 2017) • The ‘othering’ of CSAs. Instead, integrate them within lower-risk agricultural new entry options and including small farms in AES would help a lot. Positive Summary CSA • CSA takes many forms but most expect consumers to share production risks with farmers • CSAs may be ideologically led but can be successful businesses • CSAs make successful links with other alternative food projects – farmers’ markets, organic box schemes and create innovative financial models; and create solidarity with existing farmers. • Potentially transferable? – housing and energy generation • Community supported agriculture or agriculture supporting the community? Diet change Community development finance instruments Somerset Land for Food community share issue • People buy shares in CBS • That investment provides capital for groups to buy land • Land is rented by growers • Rental income pays dividends (2%) and secures more land purchase • Option for growers to buy after 5 years More info: www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk The End: Na sdravi Some further reading Butler Flora, C. and Bregendahl, C. (2012) Collaborative Community-supported Agriculture: Balancing Community Capitals for Producers and Consumers. International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food 19 (3): 329-346. Franklin, A., Newton, J., and McEntee, J. (2011) Moving beyond the alternative: sustainable communities, rural resilience and the maintreaming of local food. Local Environment, 16 (8): 771-788. Keech, D., Alldred, S. and Snow, R (2009) An analysis of seven CSA enterprises. Making Local Food Work Discussion Paper. Soil Association, Bristol. Henderson, E. and Van Eyn, R. (2008) Sharing the Harvest: A Citizen's Guide to Community Supported Agriculture. Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction. Guthman, J., Morris, A. and Allen, P (2006) Squaring Farm Security in Two Types of Alternative Food Institutions. Rural Sociology 71 (4): 662-684 Schnell, S (2007) Food with a farmer’s face: CSA in the United States. Geographical Review 97 (4): 550-564. DeLind, M. (1999) Is This a Women’s Movement? The Relationship to Gender of Community Supported Agriculture in Michigan. Human Organisation 58 (2): 190-200 Group exercise: CSA critique Divide into 4 groups. Think about the CSA story. Group 1 & 2 – Consider three key general strengths of the CSA models we have described as you see them. What main benefits do they offer? Group 3 & 4 – CSAs seem a good idea but they are not the mainstream of farming. Please provide 3-5 critical points about associated difficulties or weaknesses of CSA. 10 mins and 5 mins feedback per group.