[1] Civic agriculture is geared towards meeting consumer demands in addition to boosting the local economy in the process through jobs, farm to food production efforts, and community sustainability.
[4] However, there are also critiques that are concerned with the way in which civic agriculture promotes community responsibility and possibly creates a false sense of citizenship.
Lyson expounds on his ideas, arguing that because of the interlocked relationship between the food economy and consumers, people have a civic duty to support important agricultural engagements.
Lyson claims that communities that show an active involvement in civic agriculture aid economic development by supporting their local food production.
[1] Dependent upon the advanced nature of the civic agriculture production, that region is then reliant upon a small subset of farmers for the majority of their food goods.
Civic agriculture ensures locally oriented practices that serve as a driving force for the way in which the community operates socially and politically.
In attempting to differentiate their product, farmers limit the spread of information regarding their particular farming practices in order to compete within the respective market.
Wealthier individuals hold a higher power of the dollar and have the ability to control both the farmer and the poorer consumers in terms of what is produced and what is available for consumption respectively.
[4] Thomas Lyson was a notable sociologist who spent much of his professional career analyzing the possible impacts and outcomes of civic agriculture.
[6] Lyson's interest in rural community subsistence stemmed from his time spent traveling the globe, specifically in the back roads of Appalachia.