• June 30, 2023

Celebrate International Day of Co-operatives!

On July 1, co-ops and their members around the world will celebrate the International Day of Co-operatives, united by the slogan, “Co-ops 4 Sustainable Development.”

Celebrated worldwide for more than a century and officially proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1995, the International Day of Co-operatives is annually commemorated on the first Saturday of July.

This year, the co-operative movement will celebrate under the theme, Co-ops 4 Sustainable Development, demonstrating how our business model, rooted in our shared values and principles, has the accomplishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as part of its DNA.  During Co-ops Day, co-operators around the world will communicate to their members and shoppers, policymakers, community organizations, and the general public about the contribution of co-ops to a just and sustainable future for all.

Here in our region, the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) and its member co-ops, including your Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, are spreading the word: when you shop at your local food co-op, you’ll not only find good food, you’re also helping build more healthy, sustainable, and inclusive communities by supporting…

• Local Food Systems. The NFCA’s annual impact survey found that member co-ops reported that an average of 25% of their sales were local products, supporting small producers and building more resilient communities. Here at our co-op, we’re excited to report that 35% of total store sales are local products from over 400 Vermont farmers and food producers, representing $7,350,000 in local sales.
  

  

• Food Security. When you shop at your co-op, you’re making healthy, affordable food more accessible to everyone in your community, and ensuring reliable markets for Vermont’s farmers and producers. Last year, the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op donated over 4 tons of food to our local food shelves and generated monetary donations of more than $20,000 to our local food shelves. We strive to make healthy food more accessible to over 450 households in our community through our Food For All program, and we are proud partners in the Farmacy Food As Medicine program, which is on track to serve 100 families in Addison County who are challenged with a combination of food insecurity and diet-related illness with a free local CSA fruit and vegetable share for 14 weeks throughout the growing season. 
• Good Jobs. You’re supporting more full-time jobs and higher wages for employees. The Middlebury Co-op employs 110 full-time, part-time, and substitute employees, the majority of which are member-owners of the Co-op, sharing in the ownership of their store. We are proud to offer a competitive starting wage of $16.50 per hour to all full and part-time team members, along with a generous lineup of staff benefits.
• Sustainability. Your dollars support family farming, organic agriculture, reduced packaging, high waste diversion rates, and a business model based on meeting people’s needs rather than maximizing profit. The same kinds of outdated policies and values that uphold systemic racism have also contributed to our rapidly changing climate, the extinction of wildlife, and the destruction of our environment. Food co-ops have supported practices that mitigate these impacts — such as energy conservation and sourcing food grown locally and with regenerative farming methods that are good for farmworker health and give back more than they take from nature.
• A More Inclusive Economy. Food co-ops are jointly owned and democratically governed by their members, people like you who shop there and are working together to build a better economy that works for everyone. Your Co-op is collectively owned by more than 6,300 member-owner households!

As natural vehicles of collaborative partnership and prosperity for all, co-operatives contribute to economic, social, and environmental sustainability across regions and economic sectors. From farmer co-ops to food co-ops, worker co-ops to credit unions, housing co-ops to mutual insurance, co-operative businesses strengthen communities, enhance local resources, advocate for social responsibility, and promote sustainable business practices based on long-term well-being rather than short-term profits. Regardless of the type of co-operative or the communities they serve, co-operatives around the world generally operate according to the same core principles and values, adopted by the International Co-operative Alliance in 1995. The roots of these Seven Cooperative Principles can be traced to the first modern cooperative founded in Rochdale, England in 1844.

The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) was the first worldwide business network to endorse the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and be recognized as a partner in their advancement. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, offered a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 goals that recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests. September of 2023 will mark the mid-point in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and seek ways to accelerate progress in the SDGs.

“At the mid-point of the 2030 Agenda, efforts need to be deepened, and this can only be done with more co-operation. Enterprises, which are responsible for organizing the production and distribution of goods and services, must focus on people and the planet. Co-operatives have a model for doing this, and have been demonstrating it for almost 200 years”, says ICA President Ariel Guarco.

The NFCA is joining the ICA in encouraging co-ops and their members around the world to celebrate International Co-op’s Day and show the world what can be achieved through the power of co-operation.

It’s an exciting time to be part of a food co-op in the United States — growing numbers of people and communities are discovering their power and organizing food co-ops in their neighborhoods while thriving food co-ops continue to grow and adapt to serve their communities well. The food co-ops around the country that own National Co+op Grocers (NCG) work together collectively to strengthen our ability to positively impact the national food system and grow the cooperative economy in an inclusive and environmentally regenerative manner. We’re stronger together! 

In pursuit of these goals, NCG collectively reports our social and environmental impact data to measure the benefits that the “average” food co-op brings its community. But make no mistake, there’s nothing average about us. Every co-op is as vibrantly unique as the community it serves, and that’s the secret sauce. People form food co-ops when their community comes together around the need for reliable access to the kinds of food that people living there want to eat. It’s a powerful way to build food security, community resilience, and economic empowerment. 

If that sounds good to you, consider becoming a Member-Owner of your community Co-op!! It feels great to own a grocery store with your friends and neighbors! If you’re already a co-op shopper or member-owner, thank you for strengthening your community and local food system. If you’re looking to take a more hands-on role, we hope you’ll consider joining our team! Stronger Together includes you! CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR TEAM!

• June 30, 2023
• The Deep Dish

• July 3, 2021

Rebuild Better Together!

On Saturday, July 3^rd, your Co-op is joining co-operatives and credit unions around the world in celebrating International Co-ops Day.  This year’s theme, Rebuild Better Together, highlights the resilience of co-ops during the pandemic and the role they are playing in helping our communities rebuild in a more inclusive and sustainable way. International Co-ops Day has been celebrated annually since 1923, and the theme this year was chosen by the ICA and the United Nations to raise awareness of how co-ops have helped their communities weather the pandemic and are contributing to efforts to rebuild the economy. 

“Across our region, food co-ops have worked to keep their communities safe while ensuring access to healthy, local food,” said Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA).  “And as we work to build back better, we know that our co-ops will be taking the lead in working together to ensure a more healthy, just, and sustainable future for everyone.” The NFCA is a regional federation of more than 40 food co-ops and startups, locally owned by more than 163,000 members and employing over 2,340 people. 

During the pandemic, co-ops have been leaders in working to ensure that shoppers could access healthy food while remaining safe, including online ordering, curbside pick-up, and special shopping hours for at-risk consumers.  At the same time, they remained committed to local producers, selling more than $100 million in local products annually – or over 25% of store sales, on average.  Thanks to your local purchases, your Co-op is proud to have sold over $6.5 million in Vermont products, representing 34% of total store sales. Last year, more than 12,000 people joined their Neighboring Food Co-ops throughout the region, reflecting a growing interest in food security, community ownership, and economic inclusion. Member-ownership at your Co-op reflected this positive trend, as just shy of 5,500 local households became member-owners or maintained member-ownership in your Co-op by the end of the fiscal year.

The challenges of the past year illuminated the value of resilient local and regional food systems and laid bare the weaknesses inherent in a centralized, industrialized model. Pre-pandemic, Americans were made to believe that a consolidated, vertically integrated food system aimed at increasing profits through efficiency and low wages was the only way to affordably feed ourselves. But images in the news of farmers destroying crops, dumping milk, and euthanizing livestock while a record number of Americans lined up at food banks and applied for food assistance programs in order to feed their families forced us to awaken to the reality that this system is fatally flawed. The pandemic-related disruptions to our national food supply forced many of us to rethink how we feed ourselves. In the process, we became more acutely aware of where our food is coming from and gained a renewed sense of appreciation for the hands that feed us.

Store shelves at the Co-op were abundantly stocked with local foods from the 400+ local farmers and producers that we partner with, while shelves at large chain grocery stores remained empty. We were even able to forge many new partnerships with local farmers and producers to fill voids caused by national supply chain disruptions. This awakening has instilled a more deeply vested interest in figuring out how we can prepare for greater food security on a state and regional scale and food co-ops are well-positioned to play a pivotal role.

Structural changes in our economy have also brought renewed attention to the co-operative model. As member-owned, democratically-operated entities, co-operatives offer an alternative to traditional shareholder- or proprietor-owned business structures allowing co-ops to make unique contributions to economical activity, community vitality, and worker well-being. The very structure of a cooperative requires that it be responsive to the needs of its member-owners and, in turn, to the local community. The nature of cooperatives is inherently both locally based and participatory, embodying a direct connection between member needs and the services provided. Because of this, cooperatives are able to contribute directly to community vitality and stability, modeling equitable and inclusive economic practices. 

• For every $1,000 spent at a food co-op, $1,604 is invested back into the local economy.
  

  

• Food co-ops create 9.3 jobs per $1 million in sales, compared to 5.8 at traditional grocery stores.
• Food co-operatives pay about 7% more than traditional grocery stores for the same work. Our co-op was proud to increase our starting wage to $15 per hour this year.
• Compared to conventional grocery stores, food co-ops recycle nearly double the volume of plastics and food waste.
• Local products make up an average of 21% of food Co-op sales (and represent 34% of sales at your co-op!), compared to the national grocery store average of 1.8%.
• In 2020, your Co-op donated $127,289 to local nonprofits and in-kind food donations to our local food shelves.

“In the last year, we have witnessed how the co-operative model has been working towards the well-being of people and respect for the planet, underscoring what the co-operative movement stands for,” says Bruno Roelants, Director General of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).  “We will indeed rebuild better together, and I’m confident that we will see many stories of how the co-operative movement can help communities become stronger in the post-pandemic world.”

Your Co-op General Manager, Glenn Lower shares that “we are so proud of how well this Co-op served our community over the past year; a year filled with more challenges than ever before in our Co-op’s history. The Co-op truly exemplified what an essential business can be by providing healthy food for the community, an economic outlet for Vermont producers, and good jobs for our committed staff. Through our solidarity, we demonstrate every day how we are stronger together and how we can have a positive impact on our world.”

As part of Co-ops Day celebrations, food co-ops across the Northeast are demonstrating their commitment to their communities and to building more inclusive economies as we work to rebuild in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Celebrated internationally on the first Saturday in July, Co-ops Day in the United States coincides with Independence Day, offering a unique opportunity to focus on the democratic values of the co-operative business model. Based on the principle of one member one vote, co-ops reflect American ideals of democracy, self-help, self-responsibility, and social responsibility. And because co-operatives are focused on meeting member needs rather than maximizing profit, they are focused on goals identified by their members, including social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

To explore the ways that food co-ops are helping to rebuild better together by strengthening communities, keeping it local, making good food affordable and accessible, building a more racially just food system, and responding to the climate crisis, be sure to see the latest Food Co-op Impact Report complied by National Co-op Grocers (NCG).

• July 3, 2021
• The Deep Dish

• June 30, 2021

Rebuild Better Together!

On Saturday, July 3^rd, your Co-op is joining co-operatives and credit unions around the world in celebrating International Co-ops Day.  This year’s theme, Rebuild Better Together, highlights the resilience of co-ops during the pandemic and the role they are playing in helping our communities rebuild in a more inclusive and sustainable way. International Co-ops Day has been celebrated annually since 1923, and the theme this year was chosen by the ICA and the United Nations to raise awareness of how co-ops have helped their communities weather the pandemic and are contributing to efforts to rebuild the economy. 

“Across our region, food co-ops have worked to keep their communities safe while ensuring access to healthy, local food,” said Erbin Crowell, Executive Director of the Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA).  “And as we work to build back better, we know that our co-ops will be taking the lead in working together to ensure a more healthy, just, and sustainable future for everyone.” The NFCA is a regional federation of more than 40 food co-ops and startups, locally owned by more than 163,000 members and employing over 2,340 people. 

During the pandemic, co-ops have been leaders in working to ensure that shoppers could access healthy food while remaining safe, including online ordering, curbside pick-up, and special shopping hours for at-risk consumers.  At the same time, they remained committed to local producers, selling more than $100 million in local products annually – or over 25% of store sales, on average.  Thanks to your local purchases, your Co-op is proud to have sold over $6.5 million in Vermont products, representing 34% of total store sales. Last year, more than 12,000 people joined their Neighboring Food Co-ops throughout the region, reflecting a growing interest in food security, community ownership, and economic inclusion. Member-ownership at your Co-op reflected this positive trend, as just shy of 5,500 local households became member-owners or maintained member-ownership in your Co-op by the end of the fiscal year.

The challenges of the past year illuminated the value of resilient local and regional food systems and laid bare the weaknesses inherent in a centralized, industrialized model. Pre-pandemic, Americans were made to believe that a consolidated, vertically integrated food system aimed at increasing profits through efficiency and low wages was the only way to affordably feed ourselves. But images in the news of farmers destroying crops, dumping milk, and euthanizing livestock while a record number of Americans lined up at food banks and applied for food assistance programs in order to feed their families forced us to awaken to the reality that this system is fatally flawed. The pandemic-related disruptions to our national food supply forced many of us to rethink how we feed ourselves. In the process, we became more acutely aware of where our food is coming from and gained a renewed sense of appreciation for the hands that feed us.

Store shelves at the Co-op were abundantly stocked with local foods from the 400+ local farmers and producers that we partner with, while shelves at large chain grocery stores remained empty. We were even able to forge many new partnerships with local farmers and producers to fill voids caused by national supply chain disruptions. This awakening has instilled a more deeply vested interest in figuring out how we can prepare for greater food security on a state and regional scale and food co-ops are well-positioned to play a pivotal role.

Structural changes in our economy have also brought renewed attention to the co-operative model. As member-owned, democratically-operated entities, co-operatives offer an alternative to traditional shareholder- or proprietor-owned business structures allowing co-ops to make unique contributions to economical activity, community vitality, and worker well-being. The very structure of a cooperative requires that it be responsive to the needs of its member-owners and, in turn, to the local community. The nature of cooperatives is inherently both locally based and participatory, embodying a direct connection between member needs and the services provided. Because of this, cooperatives are able to contribute directly to community vitality and stability, modeling equitable and inclusive economic practices. 

• For every $1,000 spent at a food co-op, $1,604 is invested back into the local economy.
  

  

• Food co-ops create 9.3 jobs per $1 million in sales, compared to 5.8 at traditional grocery stores.
• Food co-operatives pay about 7% more than traditional grocery stores for the same work. Our co-op was proud to increase our starting wage to $15 per hour this year.
• Compared to conventional grocery stores, food co-ops recycle nearly double the volume of plastics and food waste.
• Local products make up an average of 21% of food Co-op sales (and represent 34% of sales at your co-op!), compared to the national grocery store average of 1.8%.
• In 2020, your Co-op donated $127,289 to local nonprofits and in-kind food donations to our local food shelves.

“In the last year, we have witnessed how the co-operative model has been working towards the well-being of people and respect for the planet, underscoring what the co-operative movement stands for,” says Bruno Roelants, Director General of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA).  “We will indeed rebuild better together, and I’m confident that we will see many stories of how the co-operative movement can help communities become stronger in the post-pandemic world.”

Your Co-op General Manager, Glenn Lower shares that “we are so proud of how well this Co-op served our community over the past year; a year filled with more challenges than ever before in our Co-op’s history. The Co-op truly exemplified what an essential business can be by providing healthy food for the community, an economic outlet for Vermont producers, and good jobs for our committed staff. Through our solidarity, we demonstrate every day how we are stronger together and how we can have a positive impact on our world.”

As part of Co-ops Day celebrations, food co-ops across the Northeast are demonstrating their commitment to their communities and to building more inclusive economies as we work to rebuild in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Celebrated internationally on the first Saturday in July, Co-ops Day in the United States coincides with Independence Day, offering a unique opportunity to focus on the democratic values of the co-operative business model. Based on the principle of one member one vote, co-ops reflect American ideals of democracy, self-help, self-responsibility, and social responsibility. And because co-operatives are focused on meeting member needs rather than maximizing profit, they are focused on goals identified by their members, including social, economic, and environmental sustainability.

To explore the ways that food co-ops are helping to rebuild better together by strengthening communities, keeping it local, making good food affordable and accessible, building a more racially just food system, and responding to the climate crisis, be sure to see the latest Food Co-op Impact Report complied by National Co-op Grocers (NCG).

• June 30, 2021
• The Deep Dish