Open Garden: a local organic producer–consumer network in Hungary, going through various levels of system innovation

The Open Garden Foundation was registered in 1999 with the aim of promoting sustainable agriculture and community-supported local food systems. The Open Garden is a voluntary, bottom-up initiative with the vision and mission of establishing a local food system based on an adaptation of the principles. The principles are community-supported agriculture in the Central Eastern European region in a socioeconomic context not supportive of such radical and at the same time creative solutions to the challenges faced by the agricultural sector and rural communities. The chapter focuses on the context in which the Open Garden local organic producer–consumer network developed. These are divided into three areas: the development of organic agriculture in Hungary, trends in food consumption along with existing opportunities for purchasing local organic products, and people&s;s awareness of organic products. The Open Garden is a case where the management moved from the not-for-profit to the for-profit sector, even though the main actors remained the same throughout its history.