In June 2023, the Hadeland CSA members were invited to participate in a survey organised by researchers at SIFO in order to provide feedback on their experience with the CSA. Thirty-seven members, which is about half of the active members, responded to the survey. The content of responses was analysed and presented to the members by our guest researcher Mattia Andreola from the University of Trento.

Main areas of focus were CSA members’ motivation and key values for joining the CSA, the level of satisfaction and areas for improvement. The top three reasons for joining were the willingness to pay a fair price for food, the need to know from where food originated and the desire to participate in the production process.

Most of the members have been part of the CSA for more than two years. They strongly value the opportunity to eat seasonal and sustainably produced food and the fact that they can support farmers who follow eco-friendly farming methods. However, other members had to stop buying shares due to their limited capacity to participate in the voluntary work either for physical reasons or due to the limited time available and distance between farm location and home. Overall, their level of satisfaction with the CSA program was high both with the payment method and the shares price. Furthermore, around 27 % of the members said to fully rely on the CSA purchases for vegetables while 10% stated that the CSA covers more than 50% of their vegetable consumption. Member were also happy with the knowledge they were able to acquire, particularly regarding organic food production, seasonality and the use of new vegetables in their kitchen.

As for future development, CSA members see the idea of including new farms in the CSA as an advantage, as it may increase the variety of produce and enhance the overall experience for its members.