Member-owned farm with a salaried farmer
Local households jointly own or lease a farm, decide what it grows, and pay a farmer a steady salary to run it.
Start small
Hold one public information evening (2 to 3 hours, under 200 euros for a room) to test demand, and sign up a core group of six to eight organisers. Over the next 3 to 6 months draft a co-operative statute, a budget for one farmer's salary plus land lease, and a target membership (for example 150 households at an entry share of about 2,000 euros and around 10 euros per person a week, as at Boxtel). Start with a small vegetable-only plot on a short lease before adding livestock or buying land.
The problem
Young and new farmers cannot afford to buy land or carry the market and debt risk of a farm business. Here they get a secure, salaried job on land the members have secured, without needing capital of their own.
Where it fits
Thrives near towns with enough motivated households (roughly 150 to 1,000+ per farm) willing to pay an entry share and a regular fee in advance, and to accept seasonal, unchosen produce. Needs a core group of six to eight organisers, a legal co-operative or society form, land that can be leased long term or bought with member capital, and a skilled farmer willing to work for members rather than the market. Proven in the Netherlands (Herenboeren, since 2016), England (Stroud Community Agriculture, since 2001), Germany (Kartoffelkombinat, since 2012) and Switzerland (Jardins de Cocagne, since 1978).
The principle underneath
Separating who carries the risk from who does the work: many households pool small amounts of capital and pay in advance, so the farm has secure land and a guaranteed market before a seed is sown, and the farmer earns a wage instead of betting on prices. Members get food they trust and a say; the farmer gets security without owning land.
Who to call
Herenboeren Nederland (national support organisation, herenboeren.nl); Stroud Community Agriculture (stroudcommunityagriculture.org); Kartoffelkombinat eG, Munich; Les Jardins de Cocagne, Geneva; URGENCI (international CSA network); the Community Supported Agriculture Network UK.
Watch out for
Volunteer burnout in the founding phase; land scarcity and high lease prices near towns; slow, consensus-heavy decisions once membership grows; members leaving when produce is seasonal or unchosen; dependence on one key farmer (succession when they leave); short leases that end when land is sold.
Where it comes from
Draws on the Japanese teikei and European consumer-producer co-operatives of the 1970s (Jardins de Cocagne, Geneva, 1978) and the community supported agriculture movement. The Herenboeren variant, founded in Boxtel in 2015/16 by Boudewijn Tooren and Douwe Korting, adds member ownership of a whole mixed farm with a salaried farmer. Open model; Herenboeren Nederland supports new groups using its format.
Where it's worked
Boxtel, North Brabant, Netherlands (Herenboerderij Wilhelminapark) · 2015 onwards
About 165 to 200 households each paid a 2,000 euro entry share and about 10 euros per person a week for a 20 ha rented mixed farm; a former dairy farmer is paid a salary to grow what members choose, supplying up to 55 crops a year plus meat and eggs.
DocumentedSourceHerenboeren on the Landscape
Boxtel, Netherlands (Herenboerderij, research study) · 2019
Master's thesis (Radboud University) on the 20 ha farm owned by about 170 members found collective ownership a key incentive for sustainable farming, but weak co-management structures caused some indecisiveness.
DocumentedSourceHerenboeren on the Landscape
Stroud, Gloucestershire, England (Stroud Community Agriculture) · 2001 to present
Member-owned not-for-profit society grew from about 30 members (2002) to 220 full and 108 half veg shares, supplying over 200 families; employed growers and apprentices on leased land for more than 20 years and survived losing a lease in 2020.
DocumentedSource
Munich, Bavaria, Germany (Kartoffelkombinat eG) · 2012 to present
Consumer co-operative grew to almost 1,000 member households; members bought an 18 ha former tree nursery at Egenhofen and about 20 staff work the farm alongside the founders.
DocumentedSource
Geneva region, Switzerland (Les Jardins de Cocagne) · 1978 to present
Consumer-founded co-operative supplying about 400 member families (around 1,000 people) with a waiting list of about 100 by 2008; one of about 20 similar co-ops serving 3,400 households in French-speaking Switzerland.
DocumentedSource
Where it failed
Herenboeren Walcheren (Zeeland, NL) was abandoned before starting because the volunteer core group shrank: about 20 of the 150 needed households were ready to pay their 2,000 euro share, and the organisers burned out (Stal & Akker). Herenboerderij West-Friesland (NL) spent seven years looking for land as deals with farmers fell through at the last minute; in 2026 it settled for a 4.4 ha ten-year lease instead of the 20 ha it planned (NH Nieuws, 3 June 2026). Stroud Community Agriculture lost its Brookthorpe lease when the land was sold in 2020 and had to move. A 2019 study of the Boxtel Herenboerderij found a gap between collective ownership and co-management that led to indecisiveness among its roughly 170 members.
Who practises it
Related Fruit
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