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In this edition:
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Thankful for Co-operation
As we give thanks this holiday season, we especially appreciate our food co-op staff, who are working hard to ensure access to healthy, nourishing food for all of our communities.
As we gather this month, we give thanks to all who work to bring food to our tables, from farms and producers to co-op clerks, cashiers, cooks to our own kitchens and those who prepare our food. Together with our members, directors, and supplier partners, we are building a more resilient and sustainable food system. Because when you shop at your local food co-op this holiday season, you’re getting more than healthy, delicious food and gifts for yourself and your family. You are also helping to…
- Strengthen Your Local Community. When you shop at the co-op, more of your money stays in the community, supporting local producers, and building shared wealth. On average, local products account for more than 25% of sales at our member food co-ops (compared to 2-3% in supermarkets). Last year, our customers purchased over $120 million in products from local producers, helping to build local economies.
- Support Good Jobs. On average, food co-op staff receive higher wages and more are employed full-time than in supermarkets in our region. Over 60% of our 2,545 employees are also co-op members, sharing in the ownership of their community grocery store.
- Build Sustainability. Your purchases support sustainable agriculture, Fair Trade, reduced packaging through bulk buying, renewable energy, and increased efficiency — contributing to a healthier environment.
- Grow a More Inclusive Economy. Food co-ops are locally owned and democratically governed by their members — more than 185,000 people like you who live and work in our communities — empowering people to work together to build an economy that works for everyone.
Control of our food system matters and working together our co-ops are already building this system. Based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity, co-operatives offer a different approach to business. All are welcome to shop at your local food co-op, and we invite you to become a member-owner, joining with your neighbors as we work together to build more healthy, just, and sustainable communities.
To find a food co-op near you, please visit: https://nfca.coop/members
Share this story on social media or your e-news and add information about what your co-op has planned for Co-op Month!
The Future is Co-operative!
During October, your Neighboring Food Co-ops celebrated Co-op Month across the Northeast, highlighting how we are working together to build a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future.
The theme for National Co-op Month this year, “The Future is Co-operative,” offered an opportunity for co-ops to communicate the work they do every day to build stronger communities. To help our co-ops celebrate, the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) provided our members with resources including buttons, outreach materials, and templates for engaging local government, and worked with partners such as Cabot Creamery Co-op to provide incentives for membership drives.
Food co-ops across the Northeast worked to spread the word by:
- Engaging Policymakers. As part of our Policy Advocacy Initiative, the NFCA worked with our member co-ops to successfully introduce Co-op Month proclamations in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire (see photo). We also worked with our partners at the New England Farmers Union, Deep Root Organic Co-op, and the Vermont Association of Credit Unions to recruit Representative Rebecca Balint (AL) to the Congressional Co-operative Business Caucus.
- Growing Membership. With incentives from Cabot Creamery Co-op and their own unique member drive incentives like Willimantic Food Co-op (CT) partnering with their local Credit Union offering incentives to join both during the month. Wild Oats Co-op (MA) launched a special webpage highlighting member benefits and ways to participate.
- Highlighting Co-op Suppliers. For more than a decade, the NFCA has helped our food co-ops educate consumers about the wider co-op movement by using “Go Co-op” shelf tags like these at Old Creamery Co-op to identify co-op products. Portland Food Co-op (ME) and Flatbush Food Co-op’s (NY) websites also feature co-op suppliers, and Hanover Co-op Food Stores offered 4% Member Rewards on purchases of products made by co-operatives.
- Engaging Staff. Over 60% of our 2,545 co-op employees are also members, sharing in the ownership of their community grocery store. Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op (VT) created a Co-op Month webpage highlighting staff and offering resources for further education on the co-operative movement.
From engaging policy-makers to community education, membership drives to in-store events, special sales to staff participation, our Neighboring Food Co-ops are spreading the word about the Co-operative Difference during Co-op Month. And as we look forward to the second U.N. International Year of Co-ops in 2025, we are joining together to build more healthy, just, and sustainable communities, and a more inclusive economy that works for everyone.
To learn more about the second International Year of Co-ops see https://nfca.coop/iyc/
Working Together to Spread the Word
Breakfast with Co-operators
In recognition of Co-op Month, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) October Breakfast at Greenfield Community College, Greenfield MA, hosted a panel of representatives from five local co-operatives, including Franklin Community Co-op (MA). Jessye Deane, Executive Director of FCCC, opened the event by sharing national and regional co-op data provided by Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA).
“The discussion consistently emphasized community impact, showing how co-ops prioritize mission over profit, and direct revenue towards fulfilling the needs of our community,” noted the Chamber. “When our local co-ops do well, it benefits Franklin County as a whole.”
In closing each was asked what was something they’d like the event attenders to take away about their co-op?
“I would like people to go away thinking about us not as two grocery stores, even though we are two grocery stores, but as a bigger part of the local economic ecosystem and that if it is important to you that money stays in Franklin County, that farmers are supported, that social organizations are supported then as a member means, that you are seriously committed to all of those things and that every time you walk into the market you should understand that going into that market and spending your dollars in their Market does more than sending your money away from Franklin County it contributes directly to our community here,” responded Caitlin von Schmidt, Outreach & Communications Manager, Franklin Community Co-op (MA).
Valley Co-ops Hit the Airwaves!
More than a decade ago, Suzette Snow-Cobb, then Co-General Manager at Franklin Community Co-op (MA) and currently Associate Director with the NFCA, was exploring ways to build stronger collaboration among co-operatives and credit unions in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont. She approached a local radio station, WRSI, based in Northampton, MA, about doing special advertising for Co-op Month. They agreed, and also organized an hour-long panel discussion including co-operators from across the region. Over time this grew to include group ads for members of the NFCA, the Valley Alliance of Worker Co-ops, and the Valley Co-operative Business Association.
The tradition continued this year, with representatives from across the Valley gathering for a two-hour radio show hosted by WHMP’s Buz Eisenberg and Bill Newman Live from River Valley Co-op (MA) at their Easthampton, MA, store. The program featured leaders from local food co-ops, credit unions, worker co-ops and farmer co-ops from across sectors as an annual event during Co-op Month. You can listen to the podcast on WHMP radio here.
Saving Black Owned Land
In a special Co-op Month Advocacy webinar, the Neighboring Food Co-op Association welcomed the Federation of Southern Co-operatives / Land Assistance Fund to share their work saving Black-owned land, supporting c-operative development, and how we can work together to advance the cause of racial and economic justice.
The dialog, which is available to view online, was part of a joint Policy Advocacy Initiative organized by the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) and the New England Farmers Union. Supported in part by CoBank, the goal of the project is to equip food co-ops and family farmers in our region to be more effective advocates for a more just, sustainable, and inclusive food system. Our guests were Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director of the Federation, and Stephanie Banks, Director of Land Retention and Advocacy.
“The Federation of Southern Co-ops has been a central partner in our work, helping engage our members and our community in a broader dialog on the relationship between the co-operative movement, the struggle for Civil Rights in the United States, and the potential for a building a greater partnership around racial and economic justice,” said Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the NFCA.
A focus of the session was understanding the history of the Federation of Southern Co-operatives / Land Assistance Fund, which emerged from the Civil Rights movement in 1967, and today exists as an association of Black farmers, landowners, and co-operatives across the Southeast U.S.
“Our mission is to be a catalyst for the development of self-supporting communities via co-operative development, land retention, and advocacy,” said Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director of the Federation. “Land retention, from the standpoint of retaining and sustaining Black-owned land, has been a huge challenge for us in this country for decades.”
A key question raised in the session was how farmers and food co-ops in the North can be advocates for some of the Federation’s priorities such as addressing challenges related to “heirs’ property” and farmers lacking clear title to their land. In addition to land loss, this can be an obstacle to accessing government programs, bank loans, and grants, and to the success of producer co-ops.
“We’re always going to be advocating on these issues, and they expect that,” said Blanding. “But our challenge is sometimes going across aisles, sometimes going across geographic lines, and we work hard at that because these are bipartisan issues if folks see it from that perspective, if they see how it impacts not only Black farmers, not only Black landowners, not only Black communities in the South, but all.”
Heir’s property “is not only a racial equity issue,” agreed Roger Noonan, President of the New England Farmers Union. “It’s also an economic equity issue, and it’s something our members of Congress should hear about.”
Suzette Snow-Cobb, NFCA Associate Director, added that this could also be an opportunity for engagement with the Northeast delegation to the Congressional Cooperative Business Caucus as it relates not only to Co-operative Values, but also impacts the viability of farmer co-ops in the South.
Blanding also pointed to the importance of associations working together to protect the Co-operative Identity, using the example of proposed laws such as the Uniform Limited Cooperative Association Act that would give investors access to membership. “We know that limited resource communities would be the first to be targeted by many of these investors in dissipating the co-op ownership model, which we think is a danger to the communities we serve.”
Allan Reetz, Director Public & Government Affairs at Hanover Co-op Food Stores, asked whether there were opportunities for advocacy on the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA), which provides for expanded local purchasing in response to community crises and is set to expire early in 2025. “We think it’s a great disaster assistance tool,” said Blanding. “It allowed for a lot of local food purchasing throughout the South directly from farmers, from co-ops, to supply food as a response to many of the disasters. We think it’s a great model that could be built upon from a disaster standpoint from a number of different ways, if we get a chance to sit down and really think through it.”
Bringing us back to the present, Noonan pointed out that “we are on the verge of a very important election. You’ve probably got more experience fighting uphill battles than any of us here and I think it’s just important for all of us to think about as we’re going forward: The sun will come up, and we have to continue the work.”
“That’s the value of the co-operative movement. When you work together and you aggregate people it gives you the ability to withstand all of that and take that uphill climb,” responded Blanding. “It takes a while to make change, and you have to be ready for that. This work doesn’t get done without partnerships like this.”
To view more of the dialog, visit this link for a recording of the session. You can also learn more about the NFCA’s farm and food system policy advocacy efforts at https://nfca.coop/policy.
Stonyfield Organic
Stonyfield’s mission is to help family farms survive, keep food and food production healthy, and help protect the environment.
Back in 1983, co-founders Samuel Kaymen and Gary Hirshberg were running a nonprofit organic farming school on a small New Hampshire farm. They were on a mission to help family farms survive, keep food and food production healthy, and help protect the environment. But the school needed funding. So, they put the farm’s seven cows to work (and all the helping hands they could wrangle) and began selling really good yogurt made without the use of toxic persistent pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
It was hard work in the beginning with each of them milking the cows, making the yogurt, and doing sales calls and even deliveries. After some time, their yogurt became a big hit. Samuel and Gary realized that a successful organic company could make a bigger difference for family farms, people, and the planet than their school could. So, they decided to run with yogurt.
Over 40 years later, their mission is still healthy and relevant as ever. Today, Stonyfield organic yogurts, smoothies, milk, and cream are sold in supermarkets, natural food stores, colleges, and food co-ops across the country — all without using toxic persistent pesticides, artificial hormones, antibiotics, nor GMOs. The company is still headquartered in New Hampshire and makes most of its yogurt at its Londonderry facility.
Stonyfield has kept with their mission to help family farms survive so when 130 organic dairies in the Northeast lost vital contracts in 2021, Stonyfield played a pivotal role in establishing the Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership (NOFFP). NOFFP works with brands, retailers (including your Neighboring Food Co-ops!), farmers, policymakers, and nonprofits to raise awareness about the advantages of buying local organic dairy in the Northeast.
“Stonyfield’s contributions are vital,” explains NOFFP Executive Director Olga Moriarty. “Without their support, our organization would not exist.” NOFFP now includes over 30 organic dairy companies.
In 2023, Stonyfield and the NOFFP supported an effort by supplier Miller Farm to sell organic milk to local schools. More than 400 elementary and high school students across 12 different schools in Westminster, VT started the school year in 2023 with access to new organic milk dispensers in cafeterias.
After four decades of making organic yogurt, supporting small, organic family farms, and promoting a healthier planet, Stonyfield isn’t slowing down. For example, they’ve been helping to transform 12 new fields to be organically maintained across New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts this year. Last year Stonyfield and the NOFFP supported an effort by supplier Miller Farm to sell organic milk to local schools. More than 400 elementary and high school students across 12 different schools in Westminster, VT started the school year in 2023 with access to new organic milk dispensers in cafeterias. And this year Stonyfield sponsored the Neighboring Food Co-op’s Annual meeting, contributing to NFCA programs such as our partnership with NOFFP to continue to raise awareness about the importance of purchasing organic milk and products produced in our region.
Stonyfield encourages consumers to vote with their purchase dollars, researching the brands they purchase, and supporting those that support and strengthen organic family farms.
For more information about Stonyfield visit https://stonyfield.com.
The Power & Purpose of Interco-operation
The Neighboring Food Co-op Association was featured as a model of interco-operation in a short course at the Co-op Impact conference in October as we opened National Co-op Month.
With the United Nations declaration of 2025 as the second International Year of Co-operatives, the timing is right to spotlight the power and potential of co-operatives working together to build complex networks and co-operative economies that deliver well-being for all. As a lead in to the National Cooperative Business Association’s Co-op Impact Conference in October, the International Centre for Co-operative Management (ICCM) at Saint Mary’s University offered a special session on the “Power and Purpose of Interco-operation: Building Complex Networks & Co-operative Economies.” This interactive short course, held at the headquarters of National Cooperative Bank (NCB) in Arlington, VA, brought together co-operators from across sectors, borders, and communities for a deep dive on this topic from diverse perspectives, offering practical strategies for attendees to create tangible value for their co-ops while bolstering the wider co-operative ecosystem.
Karen Miner, Managing Director of ICCM, and Júlia Martins Rodrigues, researcher and project coordinator, presented their findings from research on co-operative complexes and a framework for mapping networks across various regional economies, identifying the building blocks of complex cooperative networks.
Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) and an adjunct professor with the Centre, presented the example of this regional co-operative of food co-ops from its founding purposes of facilitating collaboration, enterprise development, and communicating collective impact, through to issues of food security, economic inclusion, and policy advocacy.
Fred Freundlich, Professor and Research Fellow with the LANKI Institute for Co-operative Research at Mondragón University in the Basque Region of Spain, shared the example of this integrated network of 92 worker and multi-stakeholder co-ops, and 104 subsidiaries. A model for co-operative networks around the world, the Mondragón Co-operative Corporation (MCC) includes Eroski, a co-operative supermarket chain with almost 1,000 outlets.
“The building blocks of this framework enable us to grasp the key elements and their roles in fostering co-operative networks,” said Miner. “It’s not merely about quantity — what truly matters is the quality of interactions and the availability of resources that underpin the creation and long-term sustainability of co-operatives.”
For more information on the International Centre for Co-operative Management and their programs, including Master of Management, Certificates, Short Courses, and Study Tours please visit https://smu.ca/iccm.
Co-ops in the News
USDA Celebrates Long-Standing Partnerships with Rural Cooperatives as Part of 60th Anniversary of National Cooperative Month
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Has your co-op been in the news recently? Send your item to info@nfca.coop.
November Cave-to-Co-op Special
This month’s special cheese is Reverie from Parish Hill Creamery, Westminster, VT
Parish Hill Creamery produces seasonal, handmade, raw milk cheeses inspired by the traditional cheeses of Italy. Peter Dixon brings over 30 years of cheesemaking experience and he is joined by his wife Rachel Schaal and sister Alex Schaal. The creamery is the culmination of Peter’s years making cheese, teaching classes, solving problems, and imagining possibilities.
Peter, Rachel and Alex love making cheese. They make cheese traditionally, simply, as near to home as possible, and with the highest quality ingredients and results as can be had.
Parish Hill gets milk from Elm Lea Farm at the Putney School, just up the road from the creamery, and the milk is the result of healthy animals grazing lush pastures. Protein and fat are balanced ideally for the cheeses produced, and the cheese changes subtly throughout the season, reflecting the growth and maturation of various pasture plants.
Their starter cultures are made from the milk of 4 individual cows. Helga, Abigail, Clothilda, and Sonia were chosen for their health, their components, and their disposition. As a result, Parish Hill makes mother cultures that are truly an articulation of their milk and the resulting cheese is a revelation of that milk, the cows, the pastures, the water and the land.
A traditional, semi-hard Toma, Reverie has a bright milky flavor and slight tang when young, becoming sharper and more robust with allium notes. Wild molds are encouraged and the rind resembles gray stone. Aged at least 5 months.
Deviled Cheese Toast
- 8 ounces grated Reverie
- 1⁄4 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1⁄4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons chopped pimientos
- Kosher salt
- Hot sauce
- 4 slices country-style bread, toasted
- Preheat the broiler
- Combine Reverie, pickles, mayonnaise, and pimientos in a medium bowl.
- Season with salt and hot sauce.
- Spread on bread and broil until melted, about 4 minutes.
Each month our Cave to Co-op partnership between Provisions International and the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) offers a delicious regional cheese featured at a great price.
Share these recipes in your food co-op’s e-news and look for the “Cave to Co-op” sign in the cheese section at your local food co-op.
Look for the “Cave to Co-op” sign in the cheese section at your local food co-op. To find one near you, visit www.nfca.coop/members.
Giving Thanks, Growing Our Impact
As we give thanks for the bounty produced by our local farmers and fishers this holiday season, we need your help to grow the movement for more resilient, sustainable & inclusive food system in the Northeast.
With national and local elections just days away, an expired Farm Bill in limbo, and continued consolidation among processors and retailers, it is more important than ever that we work together to advocate for better food system policy. When you join or renew with the New England Farmers Union, you are helping us work with the Neighboring Food Co-op Association to…
- Support Food Security. As we work to help our communities rebuild, local producers need access to markets and families must be able to access healthy, nutritious food.
- Strengthen Rural Communities. We need reinvestment in our rural hospitals and mental health resources, improved broadband connectivity in rural areas, and repairs to the damage done to our postal service.
- Fight Consolidation of our Food System. Our regional producers and processors need more direct access to markets, greater transparency from buyers, and more stable prices for dairy and other farm commodities.
- Combat Climate Change. Farmers need the resources, technology, and information necessary adapt to climate change – and a seat at the table and a strong voice in the development of climate policies and programs.
- Grow Our Co-ops. With the International Year of Co-operatives coming up in 2025, we will work together to promote and protect co-operative business and advocate for policies that will help our co-ops grow.
These efforts are vital for the future of our regional food system and economy. But we need your help by helping us grow our membership. We hope you’ll consider joining or renewing with the Farmers Union and help us spread the word with your friends and neighbors at this critical time!
You can make a difference: Join the Farmers Union! Share this story in your food co-op’s social media and e-news. As an affiliate member of the New England Farmers Union, the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) invites our member food co-ops and your individual members to sign up at a special discount — and to encourage your producer partners to sign up as well. For more information, please visit www.newenglandfarmersunion.org.
In November 2024, the Neighboring Food Co-op Association will join co-operators from around the world in India for the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) Global Cooperative Conference as we explore the crucial role of co-ops in fostering a collective, peaceful, and prosperous future — and celebrate the official launch of the UN International Year of Cooperatives 2025 (IYC 2025).
