ABSTRACT
Community supported agriculture (CSA) did not exist in New York 10 years ago, but, by 1996, there were 64 CSA farms. These efforts share the potential to nurture local economic development and maintain diversity and quality in products. One way to preserve farmland in the United States then is to increase the amount of food and agricultural products that are produced and marketed locally. Land that might otherwise be taken out of farming because it cannot profitably produce for the global marketplace can be kept in production because it serves the needs and tastes of local consumers. In the process of relocalizing at least part of the food system, farmland is transformed from simply a 'substitutable' factor of production in a global food economy to an integral part of the local community. Economy then shades into community, and decisions about the future of local farmland are made by farmers and consumers in the community and not by global market forces.
