Do Community Supported Agriculture programmes encourage change to food lifestyle behaviours and health outcomes? New evidence from shareholders

Impacts of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Voucher Program on Food Lifestyle Behaviors: Evidence from an Employer-Sponsored Pilot Program

“…These changes in vegetable consumption are perhaps not surprising, but they are important when considering the potential benefit of a CSA as a health intervention. They also parallel patterns of behavior change in long-time CSA shareholders observed in a previous study [4]. We used the same survey as in our pilot survey to examine the behavior changes of long-time shareholders of the same CSA farms.…”

“…Although we had previously measured behavior changes in long-time CSA shareholders that had self-selected in a CSA without an incentive [4], we expected these more experienced individuals to hold significantly different food and health lifestyle choices compared to a population of employees induced by a voucher program. While we recognize that participants in this pilot exhibit some degree of self-selection, our approach aimed to (1) induce participation among individuals who had less knowledge about or experience with alternative food systems and (2) simulate an employer program that would involve a similar recruitment and participation method.…”

“…As such, our CSA voucher pilot was an attempt to compel individuals who might have financial concerns about the upfront payment of the CSA, or who might have less knowledge of the CSA model, to participate. Our assumption is that employees in such a program hold different preferences than traditional CSA shareholders who join without an incentive [4,21]. Wilkins et al utilize a similar methodology by subsidizing shareholders and examining changes in the consumption of different types of vegetables [10] while Vasquez measures similar changes using pre-and post-tests with controls but without an incentive intervention [36].…”

“…All surveys were administered through SurveyMonkey, an online survey development tool. In particular, the key variables came from a review of the health outcomes of CSA literature [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]-especially those summarized in Vasquez et al [3]. In a review of this literature (as discussed in Section 1), researchers were interested in behavior changes within the following four categories: (1) fruit and vegetable versus processed food consumption; (2) food prepared at home versus away from home; (3) food purchasing behavior and interest in nutrition; and (4) self-reported health outcomes.…”

“…An emerging body of literature, adeptly summarized by Vasquez et al [3], considers how CSAs may provide opportunities for diet modification, health improvement, and behavior change [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. When considered in contexts where participation is incentivized or part of a workplace wellness program, CSA's potential for transformation reaches into promising new social spheres.…”