Community Food Co-op
My wife and I have talked a lot about organizing some sort of community food and goods cooperative. We aren’t quite sure yet how it will technically operate, but the philosophy is simple and easy to communicate.
If there is enough interest in our community (and perhaps surrounding areas) we’d like to have members who produce their own food (or milled lumber, or candles or decorative plants) share their excess with the coop. For example, If Iproduce 50 lbs of tomatoes this year and only want 20lbs, I echange the remaining 30lbs of tomatoes for perhaps 6 dozen eggs, or maybe 12 jars of homemade pickles or even 30 lbs of potatoes.
Of course, what would be considered fair and equitable exchanges between two dissimilar products, like beef and lettuce, would be hard to calculate and, I suspect, harder to agree on. This is where our idea has come to a halt, we have no expereince in such things and only vague inklings on how one would assign values. Does such a thing exist elsewhere? I know there is currently a resurgence in Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, but weekly shares of a farms produce isn’t quite the same thing. What we want to try and encourage with our idea is a true sense of community sharing and self reliance that comes when everyone contributes to the whole. You also then get members who can specialize in growing, making or raising one product, which invariably leads to greater levels of skill/perfection in that one area.
At this point, especially since we are in the midst of building our house, we don’t really have time to invest much more research or time into the idea. We would like, however, to get an idea as to whether such an idea would appeal to our neighbors, near and perhaps not so near. We’d also like to hear more peoples thoughts and suggestions on the matter from anywhere in the world, especially if you have tried successfully or unsuccessfully to do somethingsimilar in you area.
Leave a comment or e-mail me at my gmail.com address collier.andy (spam precaution, add the name to @gmail.com!)
Hi guys
I’m not sure how recent this posting is but i came across your site when attempting to gather more information for my own site. It is essentially what you are referring to in this blog. I live in Arrowtown, New Zealand and am currently doing some market research in setting up a community co-op called greengrocer.co.nz. Obviously the idea is not as unique as I thought but it’s great to know there are like-minded people out there. In short, the site will be a trading platform owned by growers and buyers, which is product and geographically based to allow extra incentive to trade locally. ie the closer you trade the more points you earn. This also allows growers and buyers to dictate the value of their own produce through auction based trade and price tracking. Also, by registering what you are growing and when it will be ready or what produce you and your family would like each week , other growers can decide which produce to grow and supply to the local market by doing a geographically based search for demand and supply. NZ has a very low population density so most house have sufficient land to be quite self-sustainable. Sadly, most land is now in lawn and is not utilised in this way anymore, although that is changing now with the increase in living and fuel costs being felt. I will be interested to read your thoughts on this concept and maybe even working with you in further developing our ideas. At this stage I’m trying to get some survey and market feedback in NZ so I can understand how convenient and useable the site will need to be. I have a few ideas on the co-op model also which I can share with you.
Cheers
Vaughn Crowther