organisations, such as the Institute of Global Responsibility in Warsaw.6
In fact, CSA in Poland is considered as a practical tool, which facilitates a beneficial cooperation between farmers and consumers. The use of the model as a tool for a systemic change of the current food systems lies, so far, outside the scope of the involved parties. Nonetheless, the very first CSA project was deeply rooted in agroecological – understood as a food sovereignty concept – principles. One of the founders of the pilot CSA group, in a short article on the CSA-promoting blog (www.rws.waw.pl), ‘Why do we need CSA?’7, refers to
values such as: care of the farmers as the core of CSA model, soil as a value passed on to the next generations, protection of the ecological and cultural landscape and the long-term viability of small-scale farms as a common good.
For the purpose of this research we have compared the section of the Nyéléni Declaration for agroecology ‘What are we fighting for?’8 with currently existing Polish CSA groups’
practice and their way of promoting the CSA model (e.g. CSA Dobrzyń nad Wisłą’s facebook page and its section ‘about’)9.
We can say that the common points of the concept of food sovereignty and what the Polish CSA stand for are:
• a fair wage for the farmers’ work • healthy and affordable food provision • sustainable management of land
• interdependence between producers and consumers Issues which are either put aside or not stressed as an aim of Polish CSAs are: respect of women’s role in the food production and distribution systems, realisation of the right to food as a basic human right, support of traditional knowledge and heritage, spiritual dimensions, local autonomy in the governance of land, or active fight against corporate power.
Outlook
Although, in comparison to the Western European countries, CSA is relatively new in Poland, it is evolving very quickly. In 2012, there was one CSA group uniting 1 farm with about 25 households. Already in the growing season of 2015, there were 8 farms working with 11 consumers’ groups which fed over 700 eaters. All the farmers we spoke to declared their will to continue working with the CSA model despite the fact that the year 2015 turned out to be challenging, especially for the new CSA groups. The severe drought tested both farmers and consumers on the aspect of risk sharing. In many cases, consumers had to accept smaller crops than expected, for which many of them turned out not to be prepared. However, farmers express their willingness to continue CSAs because they have learnt to appreciate the benefits of such a model of cooperation. It should be underlined, however, that they are still learning how to communicate with eaters, especially those who are not used to buying organic produce. Although all CSAs in Poland are following a very similar set of rules, the way they operate varies from one group to another. This is because each CSA is still looking for its own way to establish relations and rules that are accepted by both producers and consumers.
References
1 Central Statistical Office (2014) Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Poland. 2 http://stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/RL_Gospodarstwa_rolne_na_tle_internet.pdf 3 www.minrol.gov.pl/Jakosc-zywnosci/Rolnictwo-ekologiczne/Rolnictwo-ekologiczne-
w-Polsce
4 www.minrol.gov.pl/Jakosc-zywnosci/Rolnictwo-ekologiczne/Rolnictwo-ekologiczne- w-Polsce
5 [Author’s own translation] Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (Online Encyclopedia). http:// encyklopedia.pwn.pl/haslo/agroekologia;3866406.html
6 Kay, Sylvia (2012) ‘Pozytywne alternatywy inwestycyjne dla nabywania i dzierżawienia ziemi na wielką skalę’. Instytut Globalnej Odpowiedzialności. http://igo.org.pl/ download/IGO_pozytywne-alternatywy-inwesytycjne.pdf
7 www.rws.waw.pl/po-co-nam-rws
8 Nyéléni Declaration (2007). http://nyeleni.org/spip.php?article290 9 www.facebook.com/rwsdobrzyn/info/?tab=page_info
Authors
Julia Olszewska (MSc in Human Ecology) has been interested in the subject of Community Supported Agriculture since 2012 when she spent six weeks as a worker–volunteer at AMAP farms in south-western France. In 2013, she became a member of the first CSA group in Poland, RWS
Świerże-Panki. She spent Summer 2013 at two CSA farms in New York State, again working and observing different kinds of farmer–consumer cooperation. She was a project coordinator of the European CSA project “Learning towards Solidarity-based Food Systems” (2013-2015). Since 2014 she is a proud member of CSA Dobrzyń nad Wisłą. Marta Sylla (née Szkaradkiewicz) is a PhD candidate at
Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences. Her research covers a variety of topics in regional planning and ecosystem services. She was one of the first members of the CSA group in Poznan, which is the second CSA group in Poland. From 2014, Marta is a proud member of CSA Pora na Czosnek.
Native name
Asociatia Pentru Sustinerea Agriculturii Taranesti (association for the support of peasant agriculture)
Common definition
According to the ASAT Charter in Romania, CSA is:
”an association between a producer
and a consumer-group organised with
the aim to support peasant agriculture,
to help preserving and saving local
proximity that practice sustainable forms
of agriculture. CSA aims to create and
preserve environmentally friendly forms of
agriculture and socially equitable economic
exchanges. […] CSA aims to ensure that
consumers can buy quality food at a fair
price and that they can choose how their
food is produced. Each CSA brings together
a group of consumers and a proximity
producer in a partnership formalised by
a contract. Each consumer commits to
buy early in the season part of the
production. And the producer commits to
deliver quality products grown in a socially
responsible and environmentally friendly
manner.”
Country context
General information
Romania is the largest country in south-eastern Europe, the twelfth largest European country by area (238,392km²), and the tenth by population of 19.82 million with a negative demographic growth.
Romania has one of the largest rural populations in Europe with 46% of Romanians living in rural areas.
Romanian families spend on average 39.5% of their income on groceries (food and drink), one of the highest in Europe.
Agricultural information
Romania holds 7.6% of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) of the EU, 13.05 million hectares, ranking sixth in the EU.
Until a decade ago, the majority of the Romanian population lived in the countryside. Despite accelerated rural flight, Romania still has large and vibrant rural communities. About one third (31.5%) of the total EU agricultural holdings are registered in Romania, namely 3.62 million, but the number is fast decreasing.
99% of Romania’s farms are run by small peasant households! In 2014 there were 3,601,776 family farms in Romania. According to the Romanian National Institute of Statistics, the average area of a peasant farm (small-scale family farm) was 2.02ha and together all small-scale family farms take 55.7% of Romania’s agricultural land. The rest of 44.3% of the Romanian agricultural area is exploited by farming enterprises of different shapes and forms with an average farm of 207ha.
According to Eurostat, 29% of Romania’s workforce works in agriculture, the highest percentage in the EU. The real number is even higher considering that many peasants still practice subsistence agriculture.
There is no reliable data on the output of organic agriculture and organic consumption. According to an outdated study from 2007, only 1% of Romania’s agricultural land was cultivated organically (the lowest number in the EU). On the other hand, according to that same study, the average size of organic farms in Romania is 47ha which is significantly