Operating Patterns Of Community Support Agriculture Based On Consumers’ Willingness To Participate

With the industrialization and urbanization, a variety of urban disease, environmental pollution and the growing problems of food security, urban consumers on the one hand for food safety and food quality issues growing concern, on the other hand on the urban environment and lifestyle discomfort. In this background, Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) enter the country and obtain a preliminary development. Which advocates the production of organic, green, healthy food and return to nature lifestyle, not only in response to the needs of urban residents, but also help to rebuild social harmony and mutual trust between the city and the countryside, there are broad prospects for development. However, this pattern currently facing many problems, such as high cost, immature marketing mode, harsh competitive environment and so on. How to provide both quality and cheap agricultural products, the opportunity to participate in agricultural activities and natural harmony of the production environment for the public, but also enable producers to obtain the corresponding return to continue to stay in business, that is a serious problem to solve in this model.Domestic practice of CSA has developed rapidly in recent years, but the research on operating patterns is rare. And in the limited patterns,most scholars based on a producer perspective, the main stay on the presentation and analysis of the specific forms of production and operating patterns, and rarely involve the connection between producers and consumers(the public) willingness to participate. Taking Big Buffalo Farm of Changzhou as an example, three in-depth farm, field research on their production and marketing of all sectors, through questionnaires, the willingness of the public to participate in CSA and the influencing factors on this basis, summarizes the characteristics of operating patterns about Big Buffalo Farm, analyzing its problems and causes, providing some improvement measures and suggestions for the operating patterns of CSA. This study will combine the consumer’s willingness to participate with suppliers of production and operating patterns, which is a certain degree of innovation.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)For consumer participation willingness:The main factors which involve in the pattern of CSA is sensitivity to safety of agricultural products, and sex, marital status, education, occupation, etc. have a significant impact on the security sensitivity of agricultural products. The biggest factor which prevent consumer participating in CSA is lack of trust in the quality of agricultural products.A variety of factors which influence the public choice of three modes, such as income, prices and other factors.(2) For the producer of CSA: There are three operating pattern of CSA :ordinary shares, the share of labor and leisure.Problems about the pattern of CSA is: Economic efficiency is not compatible with the environmental and social effects in the condition of market economy, the greatest problem is the financing difficulties, high costs, serious brain drain.(3) Summary from consumer willingness participation: They should seek to improve the production and marketing model, personnel training, government support and other aspects. To production patterns, enriching the product range, increasing the share of leisure and tourism, improving the circulation system, the proper using of pesticides.To marketing patterns, combined with consumer preferences, appropriating ways and means to broaden participation, improving the distribution system, and consumers to establish a multi-channel communication systems.To personnel training, strengthening exchanges and training period, improving staff housing, vacations and other benefits system; actively seek government support in the capital, the cost of certification, talent, public opinion and so on.