Generating insights to improve the performance of communities supported agriculture: an analysis focused on female participation, governance structure and volume of food distributed

Abstract

Structured in three stages, this study aimed to evaluate the performance of Communities Supported Agriculture (CSAs) in the Southeast region of Brazil by analyzing internal indicators and methodological triangulation of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The main results show that the CSAs are not for profit, but for obtaining income and improving consumers farmers and consumers conditions and quality of life. Even with a family commitment to the productivity of the CSAs, female participation is an aspect that demands incentives; female participation still contributes to the reduction in the number of accidents at work that occur in agricultural practices and other activities of the CSAs. Also, the CSAs that reached the efficiency frontier determined by the DEA had a low number of members in their governance structure. This indicates greater fluidity in leadership and decision-making processes as the governance structure undergoes reductions. Co-producers’ support is a vital aspect of the success of CSAs; however, this can be enhanced by forming a network of key partners. Finally, this study revealed that the expansion of the partnership network can occur with investment in the food distribution process and that CSAs commit to reusing all food that is not distributed.