The most important event for CSAs in Norway is the national meeting organised by Organic Norway, coordinating the informal network of CSAs. In total 60 people were gathered for inspiration, updates, new knowledge and networking. In total 21 of the CSAs where represented, often with 2-3 persons from each CSA. Most Norwegian CSAs produce vegetables, but a few also have meat and dairy production. 4.300 shares were sold at Norwegian CSAs in 2018, with almost 9500 people eating from those shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the agenda<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The day started with greetings from the two farmer \nunions organizing all farmers in Norway. The head of the small-scale \nfarmers\u2019 union said: \u201cCSAs are good arenas for knowledge building \nfor consumers who are concerned about food production, where the food \ncomes from and how much work which is required to succeed with food \nproduction! These consumers represent an important alliance for us \nworking in agriculture\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other topics being discussed was how to secure a sustainable economy, and how to work with recruiting members to CSAs and how to succeed with communication within the CSA. There was also talks about two recent research projects and information about ongoing work on how to involve dairy- and meat production in the CSA model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Networking and experience sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a wide range of different CSAs in Norway, \nbut there is always a lot to learn from each other. Many Norwegian CSAs \nare consumer-organized and hire a gardener for vegetable production in \nor near cities, whereas others are based around an already-existing \ntraditional farm with large-scale production combined with a small \nnumber of shareholders. Others have developed their farm into a marked \ngarden growing a variety of crops and having consumers taking part of \nsharing the risk. It is always very useful to work in groups and \nexchange practices and ideas during the national network meeting. After \nthe formal program, most of the participants joined for organic \nvegetarian pizza and continued socializing through the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/europe.ripess.rio20.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/01\/1.-National-CSA-meeting-Norway-2019-photo-Organic-Norway-copie-2048x1536-1-1024x768.jpg\")
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