Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms need to grow a wide variety of produce to meet the needs of their public membership, rather than catering to large-scale food distributors that demand huge supplies of one crop. In other words, CSAs lead to an increase in biodiversity. And almost all consumers who have the opportunity to communicate directly with the farmers who produce their food make it clear that they prefer a reduction in the amount of chemicals in their food - again turning market pressures towards practices that benefit rather than harm the environment.
Community Supported Agriculture is sweeping the world - from Switzerland, where it first started 25 years ago, to Japan, where the movement affects many thousands of people.
In America, where all but two per cent of the population has already been pulled off the land, the number of CSAs has climbed from only two in 1986 to 200 in 1992, and is closer to 600 today.
But lasting progress will require changes at policy level as well. The unfair advantage now given to large-scale producers and marketers continues to threaten the success of all kinds of enterprise and initiative - including CSAs.
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