"Half of the CSA farmers in the U.S. are women who are now actively engaged in the production of fresh, local food and in the re-integration of the ecological, social, and spiritual dimensions of food and farming back into our collective bodies and lives." - Laura DeLind, Ph.D., Senior Specialist in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University

Interview with Laura DeLind

My interest in agriculture and the food system began quite innocently when, in the 1980s, I began to wonder why family-scale farmers -- good, productive, efficient farmers (many of them friends) -- were suffering economically. This puzzle led me to consider the larger agri-food system -- how it was organized, what were the national policies, and who controlled the industry. It didn't take too much time to realize that neither farmers, consumers, nor the environment were benefiting. Rather, mega-farms and corporate giants (now called transnational corporations) were reaping the financial rewards from our predominantly monocultural, capital (and chemically) intensive, and long-distance food system.

It is hard (and ultimately unhealthy) to stand in front of a speeding locomotive and demand that it stop. After writing academic papers arguing that the existing agri-food system was inequitable and unsustainable, I began to consider alternative ways to support farmers and the eating public. One of the models that caught my interest was community supported agriculture (CSA). Here was an arrangement for overcoming the distance (eliminating the middle man) and bringing farmers into a direct relationship with persons who eat. It demanded a change on both sides -- farmers would have to grow food for a local population, and local "eaters" would have to understand (and support) farmers' efforts. Both would have to assume responsibility for each other and their mutual welfare.

While CSA and other local/regional food enterprises are not gender based, they tend (unlike commercial agriculture) to be equally accessible to both men and women. They rely on human labor and knowledge (not capital); they depend on maintaining social relationships (not technologies); and because they are relatively small in scale, they reflect the values of community life and the diversity of people in place. It is hardly surprising that half of the CSA farmers in the US are women and that women are now actively engaged in the production of fresh, local food and in the re-integration of the ecological, social, and spiritual dimensions of food and farming back into our collective bodies and lives.

As an anthropologist, I am fascinated by this process and continue to write about -- to critique and to celebrate -- these alternative arrangements and awarenesses. Here are some of my more recent publications:

With Jim Bingen. Publication pending. Chapter 15: "Be Careful What You Wish For: Democratic Challenges and Political Opportunities for the Michigan Organic Community." In Remaking the North American Food System, edited by Thomas Lyson and Claire Hinichs. University of Nebraska Press.

With Terry Link. 2004. Chapter 6: "Place as the Nexus of a Sustainable Future: A Course for All of Us." In Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change, edited by Peggy F. Barlett and Geoffrey W. Chase. MIT Press. Pp. 121-137.

2003. Chapter 11: "Considerably More than Vegetables, A Lot Less Than Community: The Dilemma of Community Supported Agriculture." In Fighting for the Farm: Rural America Transformed, edited by Jane Adams. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

2003. "Community Supported Agriculture 2002: The State of the Art in Michigan." Research report published by the National Farmers' Union.

2002. "Place, Work and Civic Agriculture: Common Fields for Cultivation." Agriculture and Human Values 19:217-224.

2001. "Interactive Foods for Children: Marketing Child's Play vs. Playing in the Garden." Gastronomica 1(4):74-79.

2000. "Transforming Organic Agriculture into Industrial Organic Products: Reconsidering National Organic Standards." Human Organization 59(2):198-208. Summer 2000.