Thurnfeld Community-Supported Agriculture

The project combines the principle of community- supported agriculture (CSA) with green care and provides a multifaceded field of activity for clients of the nonprofit organization Emmaus - unemployed, homeless people with addiction history. Put briefly, the CSA means: community project between (association's) internal and external people (~ 100 households), meeting and working at eye to eye level, overcoming service relationship by building on collaboration, wide range of dignified activities for diversely skilled people, and participation in social life.

Emmaus clients – unemployed and homeless people recovering from addiction – face limited opportunities for community activities and interaction. Female clients, as well as clients with limited physical capacities and mental crises, do not have access to stable work to engage with others.

Thurnfeld Community-Support Agriculture by Emmaus supports and connects our clients to the public through community-supported agriculture (CSA). The CSA offers sustainable, small-scale farming and provides diverse, dignified activities for Emmaus clients and the public to come together as
a harvest community while working together on the land. 

Emmaus clients (homeless people recovering from addiction and unemployed people), employees, and the public work together at the CSA. The project redefines social hierarchies and market-driven economic norms through fostering collaboration and space for collective learning as a community.

Marginalised communities redefine their social roles by sharing their expertise while working side by side with volunteers on the field. The CSA provides space for meaningful, dignified work under an economic model of solidarity. 

The project’s solidary financial model for social, economic, and environmental co-existence can be flexibly transferred to other contexts and regions. The project also provides spaces for bringing together diverse people and life experiences together in the community. The project and its community-supported economic model can be applied to non-agricultural programmes.