CSA: An Agroecology Program in Portugal and its Cultural Codes

Abstract

This paper addresses an alternative agricultural movement in Portugal, the CSA (Community Sustaining Agriculture), driven by the Montado do Freixo do Meio (MFM), a large agricultural and service structure, located in the Alentejo.This paper addresses an alternative agricultural movement in Portugal, the CSA (Community Sustaining Agriculture), driven by the Montado do Freixo do Meio (MFM), a large agricultural and service structure, located in the Alentejo. In order to examine the cultural codes promoted in this program, this study relied on the Semiotics of Culture to analyse the cultural repertoire of this entity. A field study and the analyses of the narratives expressed in a leaflet, which publicizes this CSA, were part of the methodological exercise. It was found that the cultural text of this community is endorsed by speeches that strengthen it in the condition of a support for a social tribe, moved by the consonance of some principles, especially that of Agroecology. The analysis confirms that the folder assumes an alternative language that provokes the consumer to think about their food consumption model, in relation to those dictated by the conventional market, which is seen by the group as the Other.