Language shapes how we understand reality.
In networks, communities, and community-supported supply systems, this is especially important because many terms from agriculture, logistics, supply, financing, responsibility, community, and economics can be understood differently.
This glossary collects key terms of networking language.
It helps create a common foundation for members, producers, organizers, pickup locations, communities, coordination roles, supporting structures, partner organizations, service providers, funders, supporters, and all people engaged in community-supported supply.
Community-supported supply needs more than functional processes.
It requires a shared understanding of who holds which role, how responsibility is distributed, and what relationships exist behind the visible processes.
For people to collaborate effectively, terms need to be as clear as possible.
A shared understanding of terms helps to:
The glossary is therefore more than a collection of individual words.
It is a tool for shared orientation.
Many terms in the food system come from trade, administration, or classical market logic.
In community-supported networks, the focus is on harvest shares, regional responsibility, transparent costs, shared tasks, long-term relationships, and a supply system that cannot be understood solely through product, price, and delivery.
This is why it is important to consciously clarify certain terms.
An example:
A harvest share is not a regular product package.
A basic cost contribution is not a normal selling price.
A pickup location is more than a delivery address.
A supply landscape is more than a sales area.
A coordination role is not a traditional administrative office.
A partner organization is more than an external service provider.
A supporting structure is more than a legal shell.
These differences are crucial because they reveal what responsibility, what relationship, and what shared structure lies behind a term.
Networking language helps describe different roles in the network clearly.
These include, for example:
These roles are not always hierarchically ordered.
Often, they interlock.
A glossary helps name these roles so that collaboration becomes easier and responsibility does not remain invisible.
The glossary can be used:
The individual glossary entries explain terms briefly, clearly, and in the context of practice.
The glossary includes terms from various areas:
The terms are expanded step by step.
A glossary does not definitively define terms.
It helps use them consciously, understandably, and collectively.
As practice evolves, terms can also evolve. It is important that changes are clearly documented and that the language continues to serve real practice.
The goal is not complicated technical language.
The goal is a language that provides orientation, makes responsibility visible, and connects people.
If you don’t understand a term in the wiki, it’s worth first checking this glossary.
If an important term is missing, it can be added.
This way, the glossary grows with the practice of the network.
Clicking on a letter opens the page with all terms for that letter. Overview of all letter pages: Glossary from A to Z. The ↗ symbol after a term opens the term.
0–9 · A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · Z