Western Washington Food Systems Partnership

Cooperative Development Resources and Q&A

Responses by Mike Peroni, NABC Executive Director

Cooperative Development Resources and Toolkit:

Publications:

Questions & Answers

Q:   I am exploring the viability of forming a food hub for Okanogan County and Colville reservation. Okanogan is the largest county in the state and the second poorest. There are a lot of location challenges for a food hub. Do you have recommendations on first steps to take to see if this is a viable opportunity for our area?

A:   Lewis County, where I live, is a rural county with unique challenges like Okanogan. An issue you will run into is access to the market to create a sustainable profit & loss statement. It may require reaching outside your county, perhaps even to Western WA.

What we did in Southwest WA is that Stephen Bramwell of WSU and I developed a “road show” presenting information about how Puget Sound Food Hub (PSFH) evolved. We talked about what services each of our organizations could bring to the table. We did outreach to surrounding counties. That was very effective. For the kind of engagement necessary to put a food hub together, I would recommend something similar: Go to communities, meet directly with growers, give them a bright shining example of what is possible, then pose the question and honestly assess the response. Sometimes you may be just a little early and, if that is the case, there are other things that you can do to prepare for when it’s more timely.

Additional Comment by Emily Manke:  PSFH, Southwest WA, and LINC food hubs have had good success selling to school districts and to food access organizations through WSDA farm to school grants, WSDA We Feed WA grants, and WSDA Resiliency grants. There are some USDA food access grants as well. As a first step my recommendation is to find allies in school districts and food access organizations to partner with as you are starting up. For this to work, you need to have really dedicated staff in those organizations who are passionate about ordering food from farms because it takes a lot of effort to make it work.

Q:   How do I find out if we have enough farmers in our area for a food hub?

A:   Work with your WSU County Extension, if it is active in your area. Also reach out to regional farmers markets and the Okanogan Producers Marketing Assoc.

       Additional Comment by Marilyn Sitaker: Stephen Bramwell and I wrote up three case studies of food hubs in WA State. Two of them have been published (Southwest WA and PSFH). These tell the origin stories and about the mix of market channels involved in early vs. late sales.

Q:   Are there certain kinds of businesses that are particularly well-suited for a co-op structure?

A:   Academic reading says that the co-op model could be adapted for any business enterprise. Community Food Co-ops and agricultural co-ops, both large and small, are particularly well-suited for co-ops. The childcare industry is another. I agree that the co-op model could, and likely should, be adapted to any business, but it does take extra work and commitment to be transparent and equitable, and to be all those things that make this world an incrementally better place for us all to live. Sometimes that commitment is borne from a sense of urgency, and sometimes from shared desire.

In Southwest WA the urgency around creating an entity in which small operators could come together and function as one large business was critical because of a crisis in the marketplace. In other areas with community food co-ops, I think it’s people gathering together with a shared vision of a better way to live and a better way to buy food, govern, and share profits.

With the exception of the giant co-ops, it appears that the real determining factor is a sense of urgency or shared vision that is the foundation of a lot of co-operative formation.