Abstract
Community-supported agriculture/fisheries (CSA/CSF) create both market and non-
market values, including environmental and social benefits. When shared by a com-
munity of users, these values generate identity and sense of belonging for the members
who are prone to accept conditions they would not bear in conventional markets (e.g.,
higher prices, inconvenient delivery time and location, lack of choice, and supply risk).
We argue that longevity of CSA/CSF depends on their capacity to create such a sense
of belonging. For this reason and because of some CSF peculiarities compared to CSA,
analyzing the sense of belonging to a CSF becomes an interesting challenge to
understand the nature and extent of the community and its underlying social charac-
teristics and motives. A qualitative-quantitative mixed methodology was used. Data
come from an original online survey of 556 French seafood consumers belonging to the
Yeu Island CSF, and from individual, semi-directive interviews. An ordered probit
model with endogenous treatment effects for commitment experience was developed,
and the evidence of results was related with a content analysis from qualitative
materials. The sense of belonging to CSF is positively influenced by the relational
dimension and negatively by the demand for high-quality goods, but not by the
credence attributes (support of fishers and the local economy, origin of products,
environmental outcomes…). Moreover, commitment as volunteer member tends to
have a positive influence on belongingness. Interviews with members highlight the
social and cultural entanglement of their relationship. They show notably the impor-
tance of the sociability built around fish – leading to an increase of knowledge around
species, ways of cooking, and to the strengthening of a food identity – on the sense of
belonging. The long-term sustainability of CSF may highly depend on these relational
dimensions, acting as cohesive factors in the community.
R E S E A R C H A R T I C L E
Sense of belonging and commitment to a community-supported fishery. The case of Yeu Island, France
G. Debucquet 1 & P. Guillotreau 2 & G. Lazuech 3 & F. Salladarré 2,4 & J. Troiville 4
Received: 21 January 2019 / Accepted: 21 January 2020 /
# INRA and Springer-Verlag France SAS, part of Springer Nature 2020