ABSTRACT
Community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms have been regarded as key sites for (re)organizing the food system, promising socially just alternatives to industrial mono-crop farming culture. In this chapter, I examine the case of Sweet Water Farm by taking the perspective of a complete participant. I adopt a tension-centered approach to analyze the organizing practices on the farm, highlighting three specific tensions: (1) the tension between creating a community and managing individuals as customers; (2) the tension of who is included or excluded from CSAs; and (3) the tension between working within while attempting to transform existing capitalist economic structures. These tensions provide deeper insight into how farmers, farmworkers, and CSA members organize through the push and pull dynamics embedded in the CSA structure. CSAs offer potential in shifting the food system around issues of equity, yet questions remain about how this model might be adopted by diverse communities as a long-lasting alternative to conventional agriculture.
