The Need for Widespread Co-op Education
Two Mondays ago, I participated on a panel about cooperation in the local food system. This 1.5 hour-long panel was part of the Local Food Summit, a regional convergence of various local food interests created by the Mile High Business Alliance . Participants on the co-op panel ran the gamut from lead staff of diverse farmer co-ops in the Colorado region (such as High Plains Food Co-op , Headwaters Growers Co-op , and more) to urban co-op organizers in Denver (such as Neal Zelarney of the Northeast Community Co-op Market and myself, representing West Colfax Food Co-op) to innovative urban farm models like Revision and GOFarm . The discussion centered on: how can cooperation and the co-op model enhance our local food systems? Co-ops Panel discussion at the Local Food Summit 2015 . Photo by Northeast Community Co-op Market ( Facebook ) In the middle section of the panel discussion, we were invited to speak about successes, challenges and barriers. After listening