For many thousands of farmers around the world, #InternationalCSADay can bring about real change: sign up and support your local farmer! Give CSA farms a solid base
Five years ago there were only five initiatives, now there are over 90. In Flanders, de part of Belgium where the same language is used as the Netherlands, the CSA network is a bit more advanced: their formal association exists for several years now and many CSA initiatives as well.
The most important event for CSAs in Norway is the national meeting organised by Organic Norway, coordinating the informal network of CSAs. In total 60 people were gathered for inspiration, updates, new knowledge and networking. In total 21 of the CSAs where represented, often with 2-3 persons from each CSA. Most Norwegian CSAs produce vegetables, but a few also have meat and dairy production. 4.300 shares were sold at Norwegian CSAs in 2018, with almost 9500 people eating from those shares.
20 participants from 10 different countries, from the Netherlands to Greece and from Spain to Romania, took part to the meeting.
Several members of URGENCI took part to the European Seminar on Access to Land, that was held 9th-13th September 2019 in Villarceaux, France. The seminar was organised as part of a European Union-funded project on Local Land Strategies. 90 participants from all corners of Europe from Ireland to Greece and from Spain to Ukraine had the opportunity to share their experience.
The second of the four test seminars foreseen in the European project “Solid Base – Financial Sustainability for Solidarity-Based Food System“ focused on how to plan CSAs financially. During this seminar, the discussion was on how we should be looking for new ways of supporting the financial self-sufficiency of solidarity food systems, including Community –Supported Agriculture (CSA).
The 5th Module of CSAct training programme was tested in Hungary in May. Training participants were motivated to get to know the concept and were especially interested in learning about the financial aspects of CSA initiatives.
The 3rd Episode of the 1st Season of the CSA Webinar Series is scheduled for the 24 April 2019, 18.30 (GMT+1). It will address the relationship between Community Supported Agriculture and Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS).
The first SolidBase workshop on the financial sustainability of Community Supported Agriculture farms was held in Germany last February.
The #CSADay was launched for the first time in 2015 as a sign-up day in the US by Small Farm Central. Since then, CSA has kept growing as a truly international phenomenon, with initiatives on all continents mobilizing more than 2 million consumers.
