Organising for Political Advocacy—the Case of the Netzwerk Solidarische Landwirtschaft

Summary

This article analyses the efforts by the German Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) network to carry out political advocacy work as a strategy to strengthen the movement and induce change in the industrial agri-food system—a strategy which thus far has been omitted by studies on CSA. To address this gap, we build on the literature on social movements and advocacy groups. Drawing on experiences with political advocacy between 2018 and 2022, this article maps enabling factors and barriers for advocacy as well as the related internal debates and contestations. We find that the organisational structure of the network (or in some instances, the lack thereof) influences strategies and tactics, resources, emotions and group dynamics, and advocacy spaces. The study concludes that advocates should pay due attention to their movement’s organisational structure in relation to advocacy, including potential tensions around member participation in decision-making, responsibilities, and legitimacy of advocates. Attention should also be paid to the visibility and valorisation of advocacy work, and (mis-)matches between the internal structure and advocacy spaces.