How Far Can the Localization of Community-Supported Agriculture Go?

Community-supported agriculture is a new type of agricultural production and operation model that has emerged in China in recent years. It first originated in Japan, the United States and other Western countries, and has now reached a considerable scale. Organizational forms similar to community-supported agriculture are also widely found in Europe. Community-supported agriculture refers to a model in which a community supports the operation of a farm, making that farm a community farm, and forming a model in which producers and consumers support each other, jointly bear agricultural risks, and share the returns from agricultural products.

The local development of community-supported agriculture can be traced back to the "Local Good Products Exhibition Hall" opened in Liuzhou City, Guangxi, in 2005, after which community-supported agriculture farms appeared in various places. The earliest consumers and promoters of community-supported agriculture were basically middle-income groups, because such consumers have a certain purchasing power and can pay the relatively high prices of agricultural products; producers also have the ability to obtain sufficient economic and social support and invest it in the production process of ecologically healthy agriculture. Community-supported agriculture adopts organic production methods, emphasizes harmony between humanity and nature and among people, and opposes excessive profit-seeking and the excessive use and transformation of nature. Therefore, under the guidance of this concept, community-supported agriculture actions have multiple functions, such as producing healthy and safe agricultural products, reducing agricultural environmental pollution, promoting trust between consumers and producers, and raising awareness of respecting nature.

Although community-supported agriculture has many advantages, in the process of its local development and promotion it is encountering difficulties in many aspects, such as management, talent, the market and land. First, management. The management in community-supported agriculture operations is mostly a traditional patriarchal style of management, which differs from the modern corporate bureaucratic management style to which most employees are accustomed. In agricultural production and management, not every bit of labor can be condensed into material products for exchange. Therefore, not every bit of labor can fully receive its due market return and be reflected through salary management, which to a large extent affects the enthusiasm of employees. Second, talent. There are still relatively few specialized talents for organic agricultural production. As a new development space, community-supported agriculture still requires a long-term process for society to cultivate specialized talent for it. The only thing farms can do is make full use of the unique development concept of community-supported agriculture, create an atmosphere of tolerance and care internally, and retain talent while cultivating it. Third, production. Farms hope to use naturally improved seeds, while most seeds on the agricultural input market cannot be saved for seed. Fourth, consumption. Although current consumers have certain concepts such as environmental protection and ecology, they still lack resonance with the deeper purposes of community-supported agriculture. Most simply stand on the other side of production, and enjoying safe agricultural products is their main consumer mentality. They lack tolerance for product variety, appearance and grade, so the contradiction between the monotony of agricultural product varieties and the diversification of consumer demand becomes especially prominent. Fifth, land. The land of community-supported agriculture farms is mostly contracted from village collectives, and most is located in the inner suburbs of cities. With the acceleration of urbanization, land prices around cities have soared, and the places where farms are located also face the pressure of possible demolition at any time. Once village collectives realize the huge benefits that demolition may bring, they take the land back into collective hands and wait to sell at a good price. Farms have no choice but to carefully maintain a balanced relationship with local organizations under the existing land system in order to obtain a relatively stable development environment.

In addition to the above problems, the development of community-supported agriculture in China also needs to solve the problem of low participation by ordinary farmers, because in its current development process community-supported agriculture more reflects the interest demands of middle-income groups, and farmers' voice is not fully expressed. This requires the government, social organizations, universities and other actors to act actively and explore a path that allows ordinary farmers to participate and benefit. For example, the "Beijing Organic Farmers' Market" encourages farmers to participate by reducing or not charging service fees; the "Nested Market" and other activities carried out by the College of Humanities and Development at China Agricultural University in Yi County, Hebei, which directly connect ordinary farmers with urban consumers, offer concepts worth learning from.

Community-supported agriculture is a new model of agricultural development in China and has positive effects in many aspects. We must face squarely the problems that arise in its development process and solve them, ultimately shaping it into a new type of agricultural development model that promotes the safe production of agricultural products in China, reduces environmental pollution from agricultural production, increases farmers' income, and expands the space for rural development.