Agrileisure: farmers' markets, CSAs, and the privilege in eating local.

Introduction and Literature ReviewThe United States is currently experiencing a boom in the alternative food movement that is marked by an increased demand for direct agricultural markets providing organic and sustainably raised/grown foods (Martinez et al., 2010). Scholars point to the dissatisfaction with inequities inherent in the current large-scale industrial food system as the catalyst to this growth (DeLind, 2006). Local foods consumers, however, cite a host of reasons, including the desire to know where their food comes from, supporting the local economy, decreasing their environmental impacts, and increased community and recreational opportunities. (Farmer, Chancellor, Gooding, Shubowitz, & Bryant, 2011). Critics of our large-scale agricultural system further highlight the fact that our primary food supply is driven by a multinational corporate framework that homogenizes food options (Gillespie et al" 2007), decreases trust in the food system (Wentholt et al., 2009), and relies on environmentally unsustainable practices (Seyfang, 2006), all the while depopulating the rural landscape and decimating communities throughout the hinterland (Lobao & Meyer, 2001).Embedded within the alternative local food movement are two main venues: farmers' markets and community supported agriculture (CSA). Farmers' markets are a historic venue for acquiring fresh, local foods from a variety of farmers/growers, while in most areas, CSAs have only recently entered the local food scene (Robinson & Hartenfeld, 2007). In practice, farmers' markets maintain a regular schedule at a specific venue, and the general public is encouraged to visit and shop. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2012a), a CSA is a community-farm program in which individuals dedicate support to a farm in exchange for an allotment of the farm's bounty, while also assuming the risks and other benefits associated with the farm. In contrast, CSAs are operated by farmers who sell "shares" to community members, with the shareholders receiving a portion of the farm's bounty at predetermined intervals. Between the years 1994-2012, U.S. farmers' markets increased in total numbers by more than 450%, growing from 1,755 to 7,864 markets (USDA, 2012b). Alternatively, CSA programs went from only two in the United States in the mid-1980s to more than 12,000, according to the most recently published USDA (2012b) records.Most all agriculture, especially food, is consumptive in nature, and Cook (2006) suggests that consumption has long been connected to leisure, especially when considered holistically. The selection, preparation, and consumption of food is considered a leisure-oriented social activity that strengthens families, friendships, and perpetuates traditions. Johnson (2012) suggests that farmers' market consumers make purchases based on internally compelling forces that are indicative of a leisure experience and furthermore the decisions help to build and expand community.Likely the first publication in the recreation and leisure literature that linked local foods with the discipline is Amsden and McEntee's (2011) framework of agrileisure. According to the authors, agrileisure emerges, "from the intersection of agriculture, recreation and leisure, and social change, binding both the supply and demand sides of farm-based recreation and tourism through processes of economic diversification, community development and environmental and ecological sustainability" (p. 38). A major distinction between agrileisure and agritourism is that most farmers' market and CSA participants are not tourists, rather, they are engaged community members with a keen interest in food, agriculture, community development, and/or the social experience.Increasingly, research in recreation and leisure is emerging that links the discipline with the vibrant and expanding slow and local foods movements. Farmer et al. (2011) found that recreation was a key element to the farmers' market experience, even trumping food. …