Local Food for Local People,
the Co-op Way

Improving access to local foods continues to be a challenge for communities across the nation. Local producers face steep costs in attempting to market and deliver directly to local consumers. At the same time, there is increased interest by consumers to “buy local” because of concerns about how their food choices affect their community and the environment.

In 2003, Oklahoma Food Co-op modeled a unique approach to connect local consumers and producers. Its approach was to bring consumers and producers together as owners of a cooperative. Through the cooperative, they created an online, virtual marketplace where local products could be ordered and distributed. Together, the consumers and producers shared the costs and risks, as well as the benefits, of establishing a new community food system.

Resources

Cooperatives similar to the Oklahoma model have been established across the nation. NWCDC has taken a special interest in how the model, or a customized version of it, can benefit communities in the Northwest. NWCDC provides the following materials as a resource to communities who seek to support their local agricultural economy through cooperative development. For more information about online local food cooperatives, please contact Meredith Rafferty at NWCDC: email Meredith@NWCDC.coop, phone 360.943.4241

“Case Study: Idaho’s Bounty, An Online Local Food Cooperative” by NWCDC, 2011

“Starting an Online, Local Food Cooperative” by NWCDC, 2011

The approach follows the standard steps of cooperative development and supplements those steps with information specific to online food cooperatives. The guide describes key aspects of the online business model.

September 12, 2011 webinar: “Approaches to Online Food Co-ops” and “A Week with Idaho's Bounty" View it here (large file, 25MB).

There is tremendous interest in using online sales as a "virtual marketplace" to link consumers with local foods and products. On September 12, 2011, NWCDC hosted a webinar where three food cooperatives discussed their approaches to online sales and what they've learned. The presenters included Laura Theis of Idaho's Bounty serving southern Idaho, Meadow Summers of Six Rivers Market serving the Idaho panhandle and areas of Washington and Montana, and Kirk Wright of Vancouver Food Co-op in Washington state.