Barneveld Gets a New Food Cooperative
Mel Braverman
WSGC Member

A new food cooperative, Harvest Market, will soon be open in Barneveld, WI. Barneveld, a community of approximately 1,100 people 30 miles west of Madison, lost its only grocery store over two years ago. Since that time the the residents of this community have had to drive a minimum of 16 miles round-trip to go to a grocery store.

In March of 2002 Cooperative Development Services (CDS), a cooperative development organization based in Madison and Minneapolis, approached the Barneveld community about the potential of obtaining a grant from the USDA to assist the community with the feasibility stage of starting a community-owned food store. After several meetings the community decided to pursue this approach.

Now, two years later, after CDS has worked with the community to do determine the feasibility of starting a food store in Barneveld, the hiring process for a general manger is under way. A site has been secured, financing is nearing completion and all the community’s efforts are to be paying off.

This is a very exciting project as this could be the model for more rural communities, who have lost access to convenient grocery shopping and for many an information center, to take control of their needs by working together.

The partnership between Barneveld and CDS is helping answer a basic need of this community by bringing Harvest Market into existence.