This article contributes to the analysis of new forms of community supported agriculture (CSA) that use platform technology, applying a critical lens to how a cooperative model for such platforms can advance solidarity economies. The analysis is based on a case study of a cooperative platform in the United States that enables direct-to-consumer sales of local products. The methodology is ethnographic, combining semi-structured interviews with platform workers, direct observation of the platform’s use and documentary research. Drawing on literature from the sociology of labour, that of organisations and food studies, this case study aims to offer insights on the effects of a cooperative platform model on participation in CSA, understood in terms of accessibility, work and governance. Its main findings concern the relation between the cooperative organisation of work and governance and inequalities in the participation of farmers, platform workers and members. They are thus relevant for professionals, communities and policymakers concerned with the case under study and the domains of platforms and community supported agriculture, as well as for practitioners and scholars of digital solidarity economies as a broader movement.
Anne-Pauline de Cler (Sun,) studied this question.