18 months into a cropping cooperative: A recipe for community resilience

The coop’s first meeting was 22nd May 2022, followed by a compost making workshop 17th July and Garlic planting on the 24th July.

I kept hearing about it, and the same names would pop up whenever local food systems was the topic of conversation. When I rediscovered my passion for local food I reached out and had a conversation with Gerry (not his real name) who was key in starting this co-op, and in the weeks that followed, I began going to the working bees.

It was the beginning of October and the Spring rush was on. The number of seedlings being given to the co-op by a local plant nursery, in addition to those being raised by Gerry’s wife Margot, meant that working bees were being scheduled through the week.

There was something magical happening and I sensed this was a replicable system other communities could emulate, so last week I invited myself over to Gerry and Margot’s house for an early morning coffee. By the time I left, joy was vibrating in every cell of my body as I saw the possibilities, not just for how this co-op could continue to grow, but for how it could be offered as a recipe for others to take and replicate.

The ingredients

• A binding ethos
• Leadership
• Land
• A place to gather
• Education
• Sweat equity
• Sell some
• Working bees
• Communications
• Mostly storable staples
• Expectations
• Roles not names

A binding ethos

A founding ethos of this co-op is that everyone should have freedom of choice about what they injest or have injected into their body. In late 2021 the NZ government imposed widespread mandates, limiting movement, access to shops and services, and even the ability to work in one’s chosen profession, based on vaccination status.

Some of the people affected adversely by this law change, had already been engaging in dialogue with each other for some time. So when mandates were imposed and they were presented with the opportunity to be less reliant on corporate food systems, they jumped on board.

The willingness to put time, attention and muscle into a system that could provide significant amounts of organic, locally grown food was a no-brainer.

While the ethos may change and morph over time, it is a significant factor to the longevity of any co-op, helping members rise above inevitable differences of opinion or minor offences that arise along the way. Here are some examples of cooperatives where a shared ethos has supported their longevity:

1. The Greenbelt Cooperative (Greenbelt, Maryland, USA): The Greenbelt Cooperative, founded in 1936, is a consumer-owned grocery store that operates with a shared ethos of providing affordable, healthy, and locally sourced food to its members. Its commitment to sustainability, community support, and environmental responsibility has sustained its success for decades.
2. Mondragon Corporation (MCC, Spain): The Mondragon Corporation is a federation of worker cooperatives in Spain, with a shared ethos of workplace democracy and solidarity among its worker-members. This shared commitment has allowed MCC to grow and thrive over the years, making it one of the world’s largest and most successful worker cooperative networks.
3. Organic Valley (USA): Organic Valley is an agricultural cooperative of organic farmers in the United States. Its shared ethos centers around organic farming, sustainability, and fair compensation. This ethos has attracted farmers who are passionate about organic agriculture, and it has led to the cooperative’s growth and sustained profitability.
4. Park Slope Food Coop (Brooklyn, New York, USA): The Park Slope Food Coop is a consumer food cooperative with a strong shared ethos of providing organic, locally sourced, and sustainable food products. This shared commitment has helped it thrive since its establishment in 1973 and has created a loyal membership base.
5. The Co-operative Group (United Kingdom): The Co-operative Group, commonly known as the Co-op, is a large consumer co-operative in the UK with a shared ethos of community support, ethical sourcing, and sustainable practices. Its commitment to these values has contributed to its longevity and continued growth.
6. People’s Solar (Australia): People’s Solar is a renewable energy cooperative in Australia that focuses on community-owned solar projects. Its shared ethos of environmental sustainability and clean energy has attracted members and investors who are dedicated to reducing carbon emissions. This ethos has been instrumental in the cooperative’s success and expansion.

In each case, the commitment to common values and principles has contributed to the cooperative’s long-term viability and success.

What is the name of your group, and what are its collective values, beliefs, character, and shared identity? It could be a church or a hiking club, a credit union or a housing cooperative, and anything in between.

Leadership

First you, yes you — will have to decide that you are choosing to do it. Then you can ask a ‘handful’ of people, with a variety of relevant skills, to join you as the initial team. With a small group you’ll be able to make quick decisions.

Land

Identify the land you can or want to use — and know the reasons for your choice. This Co-op was offered an acre of an existing farm. Three meetings were had with the farmer until an understanding was reached.

It was agreed that people would come to the plot on working bees only, not casually between times, and a fair return for using the land was offered based on market rates for agricultural land lease. The group has contributed 35 hours labour to the farmer, and the relationship is healthy.

When you have a clear plan for the first steps, it’s time to invite a wider group to meet, and to declare your intentions.

A place to gather

Where you are going to meet? A binding ethos

Can you use the venue to celebrate when your co-op has met some key milestones, at the end of a season, or at the beginning of a new one when next year’s plan is announced?

Will it be a place you can have some live music, where you can dance, where people can meet in small groups and hold space for each other, for what needs to bubble up.

Education

Not eveyone knows what it takes to grow food. Our grandparents may have been part of the last generation where this was ‘common knowledge’ but not so today. So education will be needed.

One of the first events (17th July, 2020) was a compost making workshop, and a date set to turn it. This was later followed by a workshop on food preservation.

Local mushroom growers are coming to share their knowledge soon.

Sweat equity

Keeping it fair might seem like a challenge, but this co-op has a simple approach — you get out what you put in.

When Gerry told me the ways it works I had no response — it was so simple and clear. At each working bee we write down the time we arrive, and the time we leave. Someone adds each person’s total to a ledger.

When a big crop is harvested, each person receives a share, equal to their percentage of the total hours contributed.

Sell some

This is the next step for this co-op, and it will bring in funds to pay for the hard costs such as tools, irrigation and even to employ a manager.

Working bees

The number of working bees varies throughout the year. It’s Spring now and they are more frequent as a lot of seedlings need to be planted, so it’s Sundays 9am–12pm and weekdays 4pm-6pm.

Communications

Make use of a chat group that people can read on their phones. Telegram works well for this, but there are lots of other options. This is where short announcements are made about where the next working bee is going to be, the time and tasks and what tools will be needed. Photos after the working bee keep others in the loop, in case they weren’t able or chose not to attend.

Regular (eg monthly) newsletters. Beautiful, concise updates (canva.com works well for this) to keep everyone informed and are super helpful for existing and new members who can persue back issues to understand what has gone before.

Mostly storable staple crops

The original stated intention was to focus on storable staple crops like potatoes, garlic, onion, brassicas (preserved), because the assumption was that the quick turnover, pick and eat foods like salads can be easily grown in small quantities in people’s own garden.

This season the group took on a new piece of land with a greenhouse where it began growing salad crops. This means the people coming to the working bees can also take away small quantities of fresh picked salad.

Expectations

Members are expected to put in 10 hours labour a month, to meet the needs for bed preparation, planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting. After the spring flush this may decrease.

Decisions are commonly made at the working bees, or the meeting that follows the Sunday working bee. Those who attend contribute to the discussion, and any new decisions are communicated to the members via the newsletter, or at working bee announcements.

Roles not names

While the success to date comes largely as a result of the leadership of Gerry and Margot, the co-op recognises it’s time to make the next transition, to more shared responsibility, and perhaps even a paid coordinator role.

The current step is to define and document the roles needed for the co-op to continue to function as smoothly as it has. And to define how roles are created and passed on, and how roles collaborate. This will enable each member to see where they might be able to contribute, and take those portions of the coordination work-load they are best suited to.

If you want to find out more, or share your own experiences of this kind of community-driven cropping cooperative, please get in touch: jmsinnz@gmail.com