Co-operative Food Alternatives

Article in The Guardian 10th December
"Supermarkets? No, thanks. Local food-buying cooperatives, which cut out the middlemen between producers and consumers, are taking the country by storm. But how do they work, and how do you set one up? Tom Moggach reports." Link.
The piece features a picture of members of Unicorn Co-operative Grocery, Manchester which is actually a workers co-operative and not a community consumer co-op. It's also the joint winner of this year's BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards as Best Local Retailer which doesn't get mentioned in the article.

Fair & Square in Manchester

Fair and Square is a project of the Co-operative College and they're organising a meeting / seminar or is it conference - it's from 1000h until 1630h so it lasts a long time.

Trying to be an ethical shopper on Saturday 10th May at the Mechanics Institute. Nothing about it on the website at the moment but I've an email address if you need more details.

Lots of issues like fairtrade, climate change, GM crops, organics, air miles...

Top Ten Fairtrade Wines

"Let's raise our glasses to an increasingly impressive combination of ethics and quality" writes Jonathan Ray in the Daily Telegraph. I'd never consider myself a Telegraph reader, but hats off to a newspaper that has recently been covering fairtrade in a positive style.

The stats: 30 fairtrade wineries in the world. The Co-operative has the biggest selection with 16 wines, and the Fairtrade Reserva Malbec 14% vol, Argentina (£5.99; Co-op) makes it into Jonathan's Top Ten (it's all subjective, but he does a lot of tasting and has a career writing about it).

La Riojana Co-operative is the world's largest maker of organic Fairtrade wines: its 510 members produce some 4.7 million cases a year. This fantastically full-bodied, smooth, chocolaty 100 per cent Malbec from Famatina Valley - made especially for the Co-op. I've gone through a few bottles of it this week. The acid test is always would you buy it again. Answer is yes.

Full Story

Vote For Food

The Co-operative Group is developing a new "Ethical Policy for The Co-operative Food". A have your say questionnaire is available online - it's about 20 questions in total. Go here.

Co-op Ethical Survey

"The Co-operative Group said today it is to poll its four million members on the development of a food ethical policy. It claimed the move is the largest poll of ethics ever undertaken in the UK and one that will guide the business's future responsible retailing strategy."
in Talking Retail, read more. There are mentions of ballot boxes in stores.

Also "Co-op Hits Out At Green Logos" in Design Week

Cucumber Story

"The Co-operative Food is to become the first retailer in the UK to launch “naked” cucumbers. Innovative box packaging will save unnecessary packaging while preserving shelf life and freshness." Link.
Stats : Sales of 10 million cucumbers means 8 million tonnes of plastic wrap - but not anymore.

Micro Co-operation

Buried deep in the news are stories of small co-operative projects. Writing about large group profits and growth you can easily forget that co-operation is about small collective actions that don't want to get too big. Whilst capitalism promotes one against all under the guise of individual self-help, co-operation is about mutual self-help. Recent stories:- local people in the small town of Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire want to save their Art Deco Cinema . They want to form a co-operative to run it. Let's hope it happens. Link.
Not in the news, but in a weblog I've been following is Hedgerow's attempt to set up a food co-operative - Piddling Food Junction in an area where choice is only a supermarket offer.
The tiny Mikron Theatre Company are to receive sponsorship from the Co-operative Group for a 2008 tour with a musical play about co-operation. I saw them perform "Pedal Power" a couple of years ago - the story of Clarion Cycling. It was really good, well paced, funny and dramatic. If anyone is going to justice to the values of co-operation, and bring live theatre to informal venues and non-theatre going audiences it's them. Positive news. Small has always been beautiful.

Infinity

Infinity Foods, a workers co-operative based in Brighton are marketing fairtrade organic quinoa. I caught up with them this week at Natural Products, the big organic trade fair in London. Their shop at 25 North Road is expanding into premises next door, they have a cafe round the corner but the big operation is sourcing and packing wholesome commodities in Portslade. They told me about the trips to Ecuador, the processing involved to make the grain fit for the plate, the various varieties and a little of the bureaucracy to obtain fairtrade status. Chalk this up one to another co-operative initiative and achievement for fairtrade. Never heard of quinoa - cooks like rice, it's a South American staple and a complete protein like soya beans. Available at On the Eighth Day Co-operative, Oxford Road, Manchester - not available in supermarkets.
Infinity Foods

Cheesemaker Co-op Webcam

Nomination meeting, mergers meetings, local elections all to come...but let's have a little distraction with West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers Co-operative and the maturing of a Cheddar Cheese. Euro skeptics notice the Protection of Origin Symbol (DOP). I understand it's a Co-operative like most of the dairy industry but their website doesn't mention that word.

Live Webcam on the farm see Cheddarvision.tv