Walk into a co-op to buy groceries and you register a different style. It’s like a grocery store, but more. Willy Street Co-Op in Madison, Wisconsin is like this, a bustle of live music and the distinct “co-op aroma” of fresh food—fruit and vegetables, fresh-baked bread, hot deli items, and bulk bins of whole grains, the aromas touched with a tinge of nag champa. Lynn Olson, the Cooperative Services Manager, says the real difference is the educational quality of a co-op; a cooperative customer receives an education. Purple keys around the store display what is local and where it is from. Their newsletter and website offer healthy recipes, an ingredient glossary, natural news articles, resources, and health tools like a BMI index and various profile assessments. 11,000 members roam their aisles, voting them their city’s best Natural Foods store for the last five years. When asked what they are teaching, Lynn said, “We emphasize less-traveled food, organics, and other cooperative projects.” They are a cooperative supporting other cooperative projects like Frontier, Equal Exchange, and their 1974 opening with Nature’s Bakery.
Another local, organic cooperative is shelved in at least four of their refrigerator doors of dairy, eggs, cheese, and dairy-alternate products. They are from the Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pool (CROPP), also known as Organic Valley. “The value of the Organic Valley label is huge,” Lynn says, “And I have a great amount of respect for them because they are a cooperative. Cooperatives must be transparent, which means they can uphold the integrity of organic standards.”
The history of cooperatives runs far back—some would say to the beginning of civilization. The modern cooperative movement is often recognized to have been founded in mid-19th century England. They were characterized as business owned and controlled by the people who used them. Cooperatives specialist Greg Lawless, in his article “History of Cooperatives in Wisconsin”, notes, “The Scandinavian countries were particularly adept to forming cooperative ventures, and immigrants from Finland and Norway who settled in Wisconsin brought that experience with them.” He adds, “Wisconsin developed a cooperative tradition that even today is rivaled by few other states in the country.” Lynn confirmed this historical impulse for her region, noting that even so, the Willy Street Co-Op is an anomaly.
So, too, is the CROPP Cooperative centered in La Farge, Wisconsin, the largest farmer’s cooperative in the United States. Unlike Willy Street “service cooperative”, CROPP is a producer “marketing cooperative.” They are comprised of 300 employees and 801 farms, specifically 600 dairy producers throughout nineteen states. Their farmers represent 10% of the organic farming community. It all started with seven farmers in 1988 and has since grown to $245 million in sales in 2005. “Being a cooperative has helped us grow and attract new producers to match the growing consumer demand,” says David Bruce, Director of JEPSF Pools at CROPP (Juice, Eggs, Produce, Soy, and Feed—“everything except dairy and meat”).
When asked about the influence of Wisconsin’s Scandinavian cooperative history upon the formation of CROPP, he says, “There were other co-ops in the area at the time but our cooperative structures were researched and based on a new model called ‘new generation cooperatives’” (NGC’s). Most NGC’s first sprouted in the 1990s to split from the negative perception of past administrative-top-heavy co-ops that had often garnered farmer dissatisfaction until they failed.
NGC’s are markedly different in how they match supply to demand. “We offer a stable pay price so the farmer can plan and budget. It is called Y in the Road Philosophy: The farmer is paid first. So in the end we’re not basing our price on a market price,” Bruce says. For farmers, the stable CROPP pay prices are a welcome relief. In addition to higher prices, CROPP gives many farmers marketing they do not have the time or background to do on their own. They also receive support in production, certification, farm planning, feed sourcing, and veterinary consultation. Every month a farmer review on price allows them to help determine their own market price.
The CROPP Board of Directors comprised by farmer owners governs the cooperative. Members’ opinions and issues are carried to the Board through regional executive committees in which each member is encouraged to participate. It is a democratic model that is sometimes a challenge. “We are really slow to move,” Bruce says, “Around here we’ve come to say, ‘Slow and steady wins the race’. But because quick decisions are not made, our operations are more careful and strategic.” Their steady operations have introduced many of the nation’s organic “firsts”, like in 1990 their organic butter, and between 1995 to 2000 their cottage cheese, string cheese, lactose-free milk, and Parmesan cheese. Much of their early growth was due to partnerships with companies who purchased their bulk industrial ingredients, CROPP helping launch the first organic yogurt brand in 1992.
When asked what they would like consumers and retailers to know about their national cooperative position in the organic market, Bruce remarked, “Most consumers and retailers don’t know we are regionally based. We use existing local infrastructures instead of building our own, like bottling and cheese processing plants. Though we are a nationally recognized label, we are organized within each region, using what’s already in place to generate more jobs and meet their local needs.” The distribution of local product within just Wisconsin consists of nine routes. In the entire Midwest Region, over sixteen routes channel just the liquid dairy. A new distribution center in Cashton, opening in June 2007, is being built to hone their efficiency by shipping multiple products together from one house.
This week has been the busiest of the year for CROPP, their Kickapoo County Fair being held July 29 and 30, http://organicvalley.coop/kickapoo/. It takes place at their national headquarters in La Farge and is a fantastic celebration of rural heritage. Five thousand guests are estimated to be in attendance, everybody from farmers, to sustainable living specialists, consumers roaming the grounds and paddling canoes, animals galore, beekeepers, puppets, 4-H clubs, and so much more. It is one example of their excellence in education within the organic movement they have helped foster. Their highly informative website is another illustration. Though their presence and altruistic work in the organic community may come as a pleasant surprise, it shouldn’t. It’s just like the distinct co-op aroma, rising to meet you. It’s Co-Op Style.
Mercedee Renz, Goodness Greeness
For an independent case study about CROPP from January 2003, download from the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Cooperatives http://www.uwcc.wisc.edu/info/uwcc_pubs/casestudies.html.
