Food

Starting off as a small shop operating out of a loading bay to a thriving worker co-op that owns its own the entire building, has around 50 dedicated members and is a shining example of what worker cooperatives can accomplish. 

Fishing is Palmarito’s backnone, connecting nearly every household to the lake. Yet agriculture, hunting, and tourism also sustain the community, contributing to its resilience in hard times.

Four videos celebrating the life and works of this year's Cooperative Hall of Fame inductees.

In this video farm tour, we visit Ferme Coopérative Tourne-Sol, a thriving co-op farm just outside Montreal, Quebec. Farmers Dan Brisebois and Emily Board walk us through their seed-growing operation, discuss how their worker co-op farm was founded, and share how it functions today.

Cecosesola is a remarkable federation of Venezuelan cooperatives that artfully manages multiple ventures as commons while deeply immersed within a system of capitalist markets. 

Mansib Rahman, CEO of Montreal-based food delivery and logistics startup Radish.coop, joins Dru to discuss cooperative governance, member allegiances, equity and IPOs in cooperatives, and how we can transform the food system.

In Venezuela’s Amazonas state, fishing has long been not just a trade but a whole way of life rooted in collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual aid. Now, under the US blockade, fishing has become an even more important source of food. At the same time, the cooperative way of working of traditional fisherpeople has proven useful in solving blockade-induced obstacles.

Bethany and Tim of the Cheeseboard Bakery and the Arizmendi Association of Co-ops talk about the model of worker co-op development they have been successfully pursuing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Movers and shakers from Co-op Power, the Old Creamery Co-op, Real Pickles, River Valley Co-op, & UMass Five College Credit Union, Valley Alliance of Worker Cooperatives, Downtown Sounds, Flat Iron coffee house, Neighboring Food Co-op Association, Our Family Farms, & PV Squared.

Focused on 12 Southeastern states, the new institution will offer low-interest loans and technical support to help farmers, landowners, cooperatives, and ag-based businesses start and grow operations.