Our local food coops create a healthy, vibrant community

When I think about how important the source and quality of the food I choose to eat and share with my friends and family is to me, I feel grateful for all the ways it arrives in my kitchen. It comes from the tiny backyard herb garden I share with a neighbor; from the large backyard garden that my parents tend and harvest to share with our family; from Burning River Farm, the CSA that supplies me with vegetables on my doorstep all summer long; from Local D’Lish, a small neighborhood grocer in downtown Minneapolis which carries all local food and a year-round farmers market inside; from the small, passionate growers who sell their bounty at the Mill City Farmer’s Market; and lastly, from the two co-op groceries I belong to in Minnesota - the Wedge and the Eastside Food Co-op .  That’s a lot of food.

I end the list with two co-op groceries because they are the cornerstone of my commitment to local, organic foods.  It’s National Cooperative Month - not exactly headline news - but living around these parts it’s really something to celebrate.  The Twin Cities metro area is home to 11 cooperative food stores in 14 locations, which shows an incredible community support for the cooperative model. You can visit other metro areas that boast being natural and sustainable around the US, but none that have this many member-owned cooperative grocery stores.

It is impossible to underestimate the importance that cooperative food stores have had on the national organic movement, since they have been instrumental in partnering with small farmers and large growers to promote, educate, and distribute information about organic foods, including galvanizing their memberships to weigh in on matters such as national organic standards in Washington D.C.

Plus, I really like it because it is the opposite of all things big in the world. I feel comfortable with things on a small-scale, and I like knowing how my food got to me.  The food coop helps me source high-quality, organic, local, and Fairly-Traded foods.  The money I spend stays in the community, because profits are invested back into the coop as well as shared with the membership based on per-member spending.  Plus, profits get distributed in the community with other local causes through grants and donations that I have a voice in deciding.

Each link in the chain of our food system matters - from how food is planted, grown and handled, to how it is distributed or shipped, and finally to how it becomes available to consumers. I believe that transparency in the whole process leads to safer foods and healthier communities.  That we have a vibrant coop movement here speaks well of our larger community, and of our values, shared vision and efforts.  As individuals, we can only make small changes that impact the world in a small way, but collectively, we can make an incredible difference for ourselves, our children and families, our communities and our world.  That, in a nutshell, is why coops matter.