When the Farley Center, a local incubator farm, began exploring how a small group of independent vegetable producers might work together more profitably, they looked to the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives for assistance.
The producers come from diverse Hmong and Hispanic farming traditions, and had been individually cultivating their produce from plots at the incubator farm in rural Dane County, WI. The farmers had been successfully selling to farmer’s markets, restaurants, and grocery stores, and were looking for ways to grow their operations.
Recognizing that some type of cooperative arrangement might be effective in supporting the individual goals of producers, Farley Center staff contacted Anne Reynolds, the Center’s Assistant Director, for guidance in exploring the cooperative option. Possible benefits that the cooperative could provide to the grower members included joint pooling and marketing, equipment sharing, a possible greenhouse purchase, training in organic certification, as well as a forum for sharing their diverse expertise with one another.
Spring Rose Growers Cooperative was incorporated in 2010. Anne encouraged the co-op to apply for the USDA’s Socially Disadvantaged Farmer and Rancher Cooperative Grant program, and in September 2010 the cooperative was awarded a $197,400 grant. Aimed at technical assistance for and by socially disadvantaged growers in southern Wisconsin, the grant supported a series of practical courses about increasing the profitability of grower operations. The workshops were presented collaboratively by Spring Rose Growers Cooperative, a second producers’ co-op, and other independent growers. Anne is continuing her advisory role with Spring Rose Growers on cooperative organization and governance issues, and provides linkages to other resources as needed.
In another innovative application of the model, a cooperative of neighborhood organizations has been formed to more effectively coordinate a range of health and wellness-related services. The cooperative development process was initiated by the Allied Wellness Center, a nonprofit that was established to provide health services and prevention education programs to a low income neighborhood in Madison, WI.
The organization’s director saw an opportunity to more effectively build programs to support community health by working with other neighborhood organizations. As a long-time nurse, she also saw the need to encourage client participation in decision-making around their own health and wellness issues.
Allied Wellness Center met with several other organizations to explore possible cooperative opportunities, including resource sharing for administrative functions. Assistant Director Anne Reynolds was asked to be part of these discussions as a resource on the cooperative model. Several small joint projects emerged from this process, and were successfully funded by grants. These successes provided momentum to continue the development of a wellness cooperative that would also include the neighborhood population as one group of stakeholders.
Through the Wisconsin Partnership Program, a grant for the next stage of cooperative development work was awarded to the Allied Wellness Center in April. The grant program supports projects that both improve the health and well-being of the public and that develop strong community-academic partnerships. The Center for Cooperatives agreed to serve as the academic partner for the project. The Center sees it as an opportunity to contribute to the development of an innovative cooperative model. Anne will serve on the Advisory Committee and will be primary liaison for the project.
Steps to bring community residents into the cooperative development process are underway. Initial meetings have been held to identify neighborhood needs that could be addressed by a wellness cooperative. Possible projects might include child care services, services to support individual entrepreneurial efforts, healthy foods education and a community center. Projects such as these respond to broader economic and social needs that significantly influence individual health. The grant-funded education and training to support neighborhood participation is also expected to provide long-term wellness benefits to residents through increased social capital – the capacity of a group to effectively work together to solve common problems.
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