The Contradictions of Pursuing Holistic Sustainability on a CSA Farm

There are consistent calls in the research community for agriculture to achieve all three pillars of sustainability—environmental, social, and economic—and parallel expectations in alternative agriculture communities. After decades of work and advocacy, how possible is it for farms to achieve all three goals? This article is a case study of a particularly ambitious project, a full-diet Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operation called Essex Farm, in upstate New York. The farm set out to feed its workers and members entirely from one plot of land and grew in both size and reputation. Despite deeply held ecological and social values, however, this study shows that the farm struggled to balance those values with the economic imperatives and pressures of surviving in a competitive, capitalist market. The farm’s social fabric, critical to its initial success, began to fray over time. The study begs the question of whether it is reasonable to ask farmers to pursue ideals that remain remote in our economy generally, and whether it is possible to do so.