COMMUNITIES THAT SUPPORT AGRICULTURE (CSAs): MATERIALIZING SUSTAINABLE ASSOCIATION AND THE SOLIDARY ECONOMY?

Abstract

The alliance between consumers looking for tasty, nutritious and organic foods and family farmers, socially, economically and culturally undervalued, represents a significant step at the moment, as they agree with a sustainable agricultural body, called, in Brazil, Communities that Support Agriculture ( CSAs). This organic and natural agricultural model, with a short production circuit, which eliminates middlemen, is based on values of solidarity economy, self-management and mutual help. This article aims to assess the sustainability of CSAs surveyed in the social, environmental and economic dimensions, seeking to verify the effectiveness of the principles and values of the solidarity economy. As the locus of the research, two communities in the State of São Paulo were determined. The methodological design included visits to CSAs and the application of questionnaires for farmers responsible for CSAs, covering the following categories: constitution, production, records and accounting. Qualitative and quantitative research were used as methodologies to describe the actions of the managers, the period and the regions studied, as well as to assess the similarities and numerical differences of the CSAs. Thus, it was found that these organizations are constituted; have been operating for more than five years; have an area of more than four and a half hectares; they are made up of more than three farmers and 35 co-farmers; farmers are wage earners; and do not use pesticides. These results allowed the establishment of parameters to support improvements, including in the functionality of the CSAs surveyed through the presentation of proposals to optimize resources and advances in academic research in favor of these models of agricultural organisms.