Understanding consumer values of participants in a cost-offset community supported agriculture (CSA) program

Abstract

Community supported agriculture (CSA) programs offer consumers access to fresh, local foods in exchange for an upfront subscription payment. Over the past few years, this direct-to-consumer production and distribution model has become more visible to consumers due to cost-offset programs and the integration of food assistance funds. As new, nontraditional CSA shareholders begin to experiment with CSA, farmers should consider different ways to reach and support their shareholders. To do this, it is critical to understand how different shareholder segments are defined by specific consumer values related to food acquisition. In this article, we present the results of a survey that asked 172 shareholders and nonshareholders from an employer-sponsored CSA voucher program at the University of Kentucky what values were most and least important to their decision on whether to join a CSA. We used a best-worst scaling (BWS) approach to demonstrate that subscribers and nonsubscribers have different considerations when deciding to join a CSA. Our BWS analysis suggests, for example, that subscribers are primarily interested in the product quality and local economic impacts of CSA. Those who declined a CSA focused on perceived food affordability. From these results, we theorize how the CSA model can and is evolving to include shareholder segments with heterogeneous value sets. This study provides a focus on a direct market, cost-offset option to a growing literature linking consumer values with food purchasing decisions.