Organic farming and organic food consumption is on the rise in the United States. This paper reports on a study in North Carolina focusing on some of the marketing opportunities available to small-scale, limited-resource organic producers in North Carolina.  It examines farmersâ markets and Community-Supported Agriculture programs and identifies ways in which growers serve as advocates and educators to get consumers interested in local agriculture and the food they eat.  Also discussed is the growing demand for locally grown, especially organic food products in North Carolina and the means by which growers can increase community support for their products.  Potentially, small-scale growers could sustain themselves in the face of the farm loss and falling prices for conventional agricultural products by actively pursuing alternative production and niche marketing strategies. Data were collected from CSA growers on land size, seed varieties, yields, retail sales, marketing, and were combined with data that are collected from CSA shareholders on post-CSA expectations. This study combines field production results with grower and shareholder insights that collectively are used to retain and attract growers to this alternative ways of marketing and connecting consumers directly to their agriculture and food system.

Keywords: community-supported agriculture, farmersâ markets, small-scale producers