Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a mutually supportive and cooperative relationship between the producer and the consumer. The consumer pays for a crop "share" in advance, guaranteeing producers a market for their goods. In return, growers commit themselves to supplying fresh, quality produce to shareholders on a weekly basis throughout the growing season.

Share payment in advance eases a grower's financial burden in the early growing season and provides them both a market and an income. Because they know their market, they are less likely to over- or under-produce. CSA farmers are also less likely to be devastated by unexpected weather conditions because they grow a wide range of crops. While certain conditions may not be ideal for one crop, they are likely to produce an abundance of another.

Shareholders are guaranteed a supply of fresh, quality produce during the growing season, and possibly longer. They also have the unique opportunity to connect with the land on which their food is grown by assisting in production or just visiting the farm on a regular basis for pick-ups and shareholder events. Community is fostered as a result of cooperative work, shared responsibility, and keeping food dollars within the local economy.