co-operative trade movement
The Co-operative Trade Movement is being launched at Willy Street Co-op to support small, local farmers/producers and cooperative or not-for-profit businesses. The Movement invites consumers to join in ethical commerce and economic democracy, the kind that Willy Street Co-op and hundreds of other grocery co-ops in the U.S. have been championing for nearly 40 years.
Around the world, cooperatives are organized according to the seven International Cooperative Principles. Principle Six—Cooperation Among Cooperatives—emphasizes the importance of cooperatives doing business with each other. We chose to name our new initiative Principle Six (P6) because we believe that it is only through purposeful cooperation that we will be able to build an alternative economy that reflects our mutual values. Given today’s financial and environmental crises, it is clearly time to build a cooperative economy in which the importance of multiple bottom lines (financial, social and environmental) outweighs conventional emphasis on mere profits.
The Co-operative Trade Movement was created by, and is being launched in collaboration with, Equal Exchange (a worker-owned producer cooperative) and six consumer grocery cooperatives. The Movement empowers consumers to use their purchasing dollars to create an economy that embodies our highest values. In 2008, Equal Exchange began engaging in discussions with numerous food co-ops to discuss our mutual successes and challenges over the past few decades. During the course of these conversations, it became clear that it was time to “take things to a new level” in order to increase our selling power, better differentiate ourselves and gain more leverage in the marketplace, find ways to more deeply engage our consumers, increase market access for small farmers, build cooperative supply chains and a solidarity economy, and ultimately change our food system. Six grocery co-ops shared this vision and wanted to co-create a new movement that could accomplish all of these goals.
“As our food system has become more globalized and its control more concentrated among an ever-shrinking list of large corporations, family farmers here in North America face challenges that are similar in many ways to those of farmers in the developing world. Indeed, farmers around the globe are caught between declining prices for their products, the consolidation of markets and distribution, and tightening control over inputs such as seed. For example, 50 years ago farmers in Europe and North America received between 45 and 60 percent of the money that consumers spent on food. Today that proportion has dropped to just 7 percent in Britain and 3.5 percent in the US. And between 1935 and 1997, the total number of farms in the U.S. fell from 6.5 million to just 2.05 million. By 2003, there were just 1.9 million working farmers in the U.S. - less than the prison population. In terms of market consolidation, over 50% of the revenue generated globally by food retailing can be accounted for by just 10 corporations.” –SOURCE: Equal Exchange
(We share many of the same food policies about prioritizing local and sustainably grown or produced as well as a built-in commitment to local economies among the member co-ops of the National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA).) Despite the $1.2 billion in sales each year from the 114 affiliated grocery cooperatives across 32 states, the economic impact on local economies stemming from grocery cooperatives is largely eclipsed by privately owned grocery chains that are focused mainly on increasing sales and profit. Green-washed marketing campaigns may fade into the background, but community-owned and cooperative grocery stores will continue to be the tried, true and transparent champion of family farming, local producers and cooperatives.
The symbol ‘P6’ was selected to represent the Movement and products in our store that represent at least two of the three following criteria: small farmer/producer, “local,” cooperative or non-profit organization.
If a producer/farmer meets the criteria, their products receive the P6 label or inclusion on the P6 list of products. At Willy Street Co-op, small farmer/producer is defined using these guidelines: a.) Independently owned and operated, and b.) Selling direct to store or through a local distributor with a regional distribution area. “Local” is defined as a product grown or produced within a 150-mile radius of the Capitol in Wisconsin. “Co-op” is defined by cooperative ownership of the business or non-profit organization that benefits our community (e.g., Troy Farm, Porchlight, Seed Savers).
[Currently, the six founding member stores across the United States are: Bloomingfoods Co-op (Bloomington, Indiana); Brattleboro Food Co-op (Brattleboro, Vermont); Community Mercantile (Lawrence, Kansas); Davis Food Co-op (Davis, California); Equal Exchange (West Bridgewater, Massachusetts); Seward Food Co-op (Minneapolis, Minnesota); and Willy Street Co-op (Madison, Wisconsin).]
The intention is to introduce movement to other co-ops and our plan is to double the number of participating cooperatives in 2011 and triple the number by 2012. More information is available at www.p6.coop. Also, look for signage and additional information on P6 throughout our store.
To use your purchasing dollars to create an economy that embodies our highest values, you can select food from the following P6 vendors at Willy Street Co-op:
| Amelse Farms—maple syrup Angelica’s Garden, LLC—kim chi, sour kraut Avonlea—smudge sticks Bandung Restaurant—tempeh Batch Bakehouse—breads Bear Clan Wild Rice—wild rice Black Earth Meat Market—beef, pork, poultry Black Sheep Enterprises—wheatgrass Bleu Mont Dairy—artisanal cheeses Burgie’s Organics, LLC—laundry soap Burmeister Ginseng Co-op—ginseng Capri Cheesery—goat cheeses Carlanna Gardens—pesto Cates Family Farm—beef Cedar Crest—ice cream Chalet Cheese Co-op—baby swiss, limberger, brick cheeses Chicago Soydairy—soy cheese Clasen’s European Bakery, Inc.—breads Crow Pottery—pottery Don’s Produce—tomatoes Dreamfarm—goat cheese Driftless Organics—sunflower oil Elegant Foods—scones Four Elements Organic Herbals, LLC—tinctures, soaps, salves, lotions, teas Gentle Breeze Honey, Inc.—honey Go Macro—protein bars Gotham Bagels—bagels Green Thumb Produce Greenbush Bakery—baked goods Harmony Valley Farms—vegetables Hawkwind—mustards Heartland Bison—bison meat Herb-n-Oyster—mushrooms Hidden Springs Creamery—sheep cheese JenEhr Family Farm—vegetables Jim’s Cheese Pantry—cheese Just Coffee Cooperative—coffee Kamm’s Farm Bakery—breads Keewaydin Organics—vegetables Kickapoo Gold, LLC—syrup Krinkes Farm Market—popcorn La Campagne Bakery—cookies Lange’s Farm—meats M & M Organic Farms, LLC—eggs Madison Sourdough Co.—breads Maple Valley—maple syrup Mt. Sterling Cheese Co-op—goat cheese |
Nature’s Bakery—breads, granolas NessAlla Kombucha, LLC—kombucha New Century Farm—eggs Next Generation Organics—cheese Norske Wood Works—firewood North Bay Trading Co.—wild rice One Sun Farm—pizza Pasqual’s—salsa, chips Pecatonica Valley Farm, LLC—beef sticks Pinn-Oak Ridge Farms—lamb Potter’s Crackers—crackers Porchlight—salsa, jams PowerKraut—sauerkraut Prairie Bluff Farm, LLC—eggs Quince and Apple—preserves Red Oak Publishers—greeting cards Renaissance Farm, Inc.—pesto, salad dressings Rock Cheese Company—cheese Roesler Farms—Chicken Rolling Meadows Sorghum Mill—sorghum molasses RP’s Pastas Company—pastas, pasta mixes Schickert Distributing—mushrooms Schumacher Ginseng—ginseng Seed Savers—seeds Simple Soyman/Bountiful Bean—tofu, pre-made tofu mixes Slack’s. Inc.—jams Sparkle Dog Company—music Stoddards Meat—beef, pork Sugar River Dairy—yogurt Tashai Lovington—greeting cards Tipi Produce—vegetables Tomato Mountain Farm—tomato sauce, salsa Troy Community Farm—sprouted grains Uplands Cheese Company—cheese Vermont Valley Community Farm—vegetables Vern’s Cheese, Inc.—cheese Voss Organics—tomatoes, seedlings West Star Farm—vegetables, seedlings White Jasmine, LLC—spice packs Widmer Cheese Cellars—cheese Willow Creek Farm—pork Wisconsin Natural Acres—honey Willy Street Co-op—deli and bakery items Ys Organic Bee Farm—honey bodycare products Yuppie Hill Farm—eggs Zuercher Cheese Co—cheese |
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