The role of community supported agriculture in the development of organic agriculture in Croatia

Community supported agriculture (CSA) refers to those agricultural activities that contrast with commercial agriculture. They consist of members who pay for fresh, untreated and locally grown food directly from farmers. In this way the risk is shared and the resellers are eliminated. This paper discusses the basic principles of CSA functioning and the historical circumstances of their development. Besides the economic dimension of the functioning of CSA groups, which is most important (ensuring of purchase), emphasis is also given to the social and cultural dimension of the groups activity. The basis of the work is the presentation of the functioning of CSA groups in Croatia and a comparison of social and economic characteristics of the group members and the farmers that collaborate to the groups with trends in the world. The results were collected by administering an online questionnaire among 46 group members and 5 famers. The survey has confirmed the starting hypothesis – that the group members are younger and highly educated persons who live in large cities or urbanized regions (Zagreb, Kvarner, Istria) and are driven by eco-social motives (ecological consciousness, healthy food, cooperation with group members). Farmers who cooperate with CSA groups are practicing ecological agriculture on farms that are smaller than an average Croatian farm. They collaborate with the groups because of easier selling of the products and they find that the groups have a positive effect on their income and involvement in the local community