“Our philosophy is simple. It’s to provide the best quality products sourced from the most local farms.” Like many Local Hero members, Oliver’s Farmstand got its start when owner Ruby Hutt saw a need in her community for healthy, local, organic food. It became her mission to support local businesses and give her community the opportunity to support these local businesses as well. This year’s pandemic has only strengthened Ruby’s dedication to this mission.

Ruby Hutt opened Oliver’s Farmstand shortly after getting married and having her son Oliver. “Oliver was the catalyst.” Ruby went from working full-time to being a full-time mother, and as a full-time mother, Ruby became aware of a niche in her community that she wanted to fill—providing “hyper-local” food, as well as a community she wanted to become a part of—the Pioneer Valley’s agricultural community. From there, Ruby started to source the staples of every farm stand … vegetables, meats, honey, and maple syrup, and the smaller the farm, the better. However, to stand out from other farm stands, she branched out to unique products that weren’t readily available to her community. From here, she started to sell mushrooms from Mycoterra, seafood and fish from City Fish Market, and specialty products like pickled quail eggs from friends at local farms. Ruby estimates that 90% of her products are currently sourced from the Pioneer Valley.

During our conversation, Ruby highlighted many local farmers that she has cultivated business and personal relationships with. She talked about these farmers, all of whom she knows by first name, with a love and respect anyone in agriculture would recognize and relate to. When discussing her products and their sources, she beamed about the greens she gets from Diego at Song Sparrow Farm, who farms on just a half-acre, noting that customers often stop for their signature salad mix alone. She also recounted the first time she met Jamie, the owner of Jewel Brook Farm, when she pulled up to the farm stand and shouted, “Hey! You wanna sell some pickled quail eggs?” Then and there, Ruby bought eight jars for herself and those pickled quail eggs have been a staple at the stand ever since. When discussing the products she sells, Ruby does not focus on the quantity or price, but her mission to support local farmers, stating that “everybody’s special,” and having a part in our local agricultural community “makes all the work worth it.”

Unlike most small businesses, Oliver’s Farmstand was uniquely prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic. In these uncertain times, many people do not feel comfortable shopping in large chain grocery stores and have more time to investigate what’s being offered in their area. Due to its cash-optional, contact-free nature as a farm stand, Oliver’s has become a welcome stop for those looking for COVID-safe shopping and local, organic food. As Ruby said, this past year, “people have been looking to support local businesses and communities,” and although you don’t go to the movies, or may choose not to eat out at a restaurant, you can go on an adventure and discover places like Oliver’s Farmstand.

In seeing this increased demand for contactless shopping, Ruby decided that her farm stand provided a necessary service for those nervous to go to the store. In order to support her community and continue to provide a safe, local grocery option, this year, Ruby has decided to keep her farm stand open year-round by transitioning to an online ordering platform. Even for those customers that are not technologically inclined, this online ordering is easy to navigate. For the winter months, Oliver’s Farmstand will be offering online ordering for pickup every Wednesday and Saturday. For Wednesday pickup, orders open at midnight on Friday, and close at 11:59pm on Monday. For Saturday pickup, orders open at midnight on Tuesday, and close at 11:59pm on Thursday. Through this online ordering platform, customers can easily view products, as well as build, edit, and schedule a pickup for their order all in one central location.

Although I didn’t physically visit Oliver’s Farmstand, I could feel the love and care Ruby felt toward her business, as well as the magic of discovering such a unique farm stand in the middle of the Hill Towns, in Goshen. From local honey to stuffed clams, Oliver’s Farmstand is a terrific one-stop-destination for all of your local food needs.

Support dozens of Pioneer Valley’s best small farms by making use of Oliver’s new online ordering platform and check the farm stand’s Facebook page for any updates.

Josh Mobley and Seva Tower

By Noah Baustin,
CISA Program Coordinator

Published in CISA’s April 2018
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In 1866, a group of dairy farmers banded together to establish a cooperative creamery in Cummington. For decades, farmers and families from throughout the Hilltowns gathered at their shared creamery; over 150 years later, the Old Creamery Co-op has transformed into a community-owned grocery store and it remains a centerpiece of the Hilltown community.

“If you ever feel like you haven’t seen someone in a little while, the joke for us is: ‘just go to The Creamery!’” Seva Tower, a local resident and long-time Co-op member, told me. I sat down over a cup of tea with Seva, who handles the Old Creamery’s Marketing and Promotions, along with Josh Mobley, the Store Manager, on a recent March afternoon. Seva continued, “In the Old Creamery, we have a spot where people from all over the place are coming—whether they’re passing through on a trip to Notchview or beyond, or they’re working right here in town. For a long time, we have been a meeting place for all kinds of people.”

It’s not surprising that Seva and Josh see such a wide variety of customers passing through the Old Creamery, given the vast selection of products they are able to offer. The Old Creamery Co-op is a full one-stop-shop grocery store featuring produce, dairy, standard shelf products, beer, wine, liquor, and more. Further, their deli features a full menu, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a selection of soups, salads, sandwiches, and prepared foods. And as if that wasn’t enough, The Old Creamery also sells crafts, books, seeds, and plant starts!

Although the days of the wagon trains delivering neighbors’ milk are long gone, The Old Creamery Co-op still attracts the bounty of the region year-round. Whether it’s root veggies from Sawyer Farm down the road in Worthington, mushrooms from Colrain, or spinach from Amherst, the produce section is always packed with offerings from throughout the Pioneer Valley. Once farming season hits full swing by the end of April, Josh predicts that upwards of 90% of their produce will be coming in locally. What other local products are at The Old Creamery? A couple that Josh highlighted include dairy from Grace Hill Farm (“you can literally hit the farm with a rock from the store”) and Appalachian Naturals sauces (“we carry every single product they make”).

Speaking with Josh and Seva, it’s clear that their suppliers represent more to them than just business relationships. Josh reflected, “These are people who have had a craft passed down to them, or taught it to themselves. In this age of technology it’s so important that we continue to support this Western Mass lifeblood of artisanal culture.” Further, these suppliers are the Old Creamery’s neighbors. “That’s the most important thing to me,” Seva said, “to have a store that supports our neighborhood producers. It’s just so vital for our values to connect to the land where we’re walking every day, to really understand where things come from. When you are supporting locally grown products and crafts you have a connection to somebody and to a place. For me, and a lot of people around here, that really binds us together as a community.”

The proliferation of “big box” stores and chain supermarkets over the last few decades has forced independent grocers all over the country out of business. Luckily for the town of Greenfield, Foster’s Supermarket has endured for three generations and is still going strong.

After cutting his teeth as the owner of the Student’s Store at Mount Hermon School, Bud Foster bought his first grocery store in 1952, located on Chapman Street in Greenfield. After numerous relocations and expansions, Foster’s is now situated on the corner of Conway and Allen streets, just a few blocks north of Greenfield Center.

Even after more than half a century’s worth of changes, Foster’s is still very much a family business. It’s currently run by Bud’s grandsons Jason and Matthew Deane. The staff also includes both of their spouses and at least fourteen cousins. Retirement couldn’t totally pull Jason and Matthew’s mother away from Foster’s either, as she still comes in on Saturdays to help out. Jason has been working there since he was twelve years old; now officially the CEO, he has a variety of responsibilities including driving a truck to Boston twice a week to pick up produce. Even though he has been here for decades, Jason enjoys working at Foster’s because it is comfortable, but at the same time, each day brings different challenges so it never gets too repetitive.

Of course, running a supermarket is not without its challenges, the biggest of which is competition. Larger chains have always been around, but in recent years, other types of businesses have begun to enter the grocery market. Pharmacies and other stores have expanded their grocery offerings, and online services like Amazon are moving in to the grocery market as well.

However, Foster’s focus on service has allowed it to successfully hold its own against larger challengers. I stopped by to meet with Jason not long before closing, and even on a slow Tuesday night almost all the registers were open and staffed. The store had that classic community feeling that can be hard to find these days, with employees greeting customers by name and chatting as they rang up their purchases. Jason also notes that many older and otherwise mobility-impaired customers appreciate that Foster’s has a smaller footprint than other grocery stores; it can be difficult to navigate and traverse a fifteen- or twenty-aisle-wide superstore.

Foster’s is a pioneer in the Valley’s food network, with a history of selling local produce dating back to the 1950s, long before eating local became a movement. As I walked in, I spotted local onions from Hatfield prominently displayed at the entrance to the produce section, complemented by many more offerings from farms in the region. Foster’s’ longevity and standing in the community has created enduring relationships with farms large and small, making it easy for residents of Greenfield to have access to a variety of fresh and local food products.

If you like your groceries with a side of friendly and helpful service, Foster’s is the place to go. Stop in sometime for whatever you may need, and don’t forget to grab plenty of local produce while you’re there!

Although I don’t make it over there often enough, Atkins Farms is one of my favorite stores in the Valley. To me, it offers the charm of a small New England farm stand with the variety and prices of a large supermarket. I sat down with Pauline Lannon, who owns the store, and Jen Adams, Advertising Manager and decades-long team member, to gather some information about the market. Atkins started out in 1962 as a 40 by 50 foot fruit stand, with peaches, pears, and apples coming in from nearby orchards owned by Howard Atkins himself, as well as local produce from nearby farmers. Pauline has seen the store grow considerably in the intervening years; the biggest change was the addition of a butcher counter and meat department in 1995, which was the last step in making the store a one-stop market for all of its customers’ needs. The store also features a deli and a bakery fully stocked with food made from scratch in-house, a produce department full of local fruits and veggies, fresh-cut flowers, gift baskets, and an extensive candy department featuring freshly made fudge.

Atkins is best known for their apples, apple pies, and their famous cider donuts. Apples are available at the store starting in August, or pick-your-own down the road at the 78 acre orchard (a separate orchard in Belchertown, which Atkins purchased in the 1960’s, was sold to former Atkins farm manager Elly Vaughan this year and is now in business as Phoenix Fruit Farm). Macouns, Ginger Golds, Cortlands, and McIntosh currently grow there, along with young Honeycrisps and some heirloom varieties. Cider donuts and pies are available year round, but the amount produced goes up dramatically around the fall holidays: Atkins produces a total of 215,000 donuts in September and October, and 3,000-4,000 pies a week in the lead-up to Thanksgiving.

Atkins Farms photo

While the local food movement has been exploding across the country in recent years, buying local has been the name of the game at Atkins since its inception. Atkins maintains relationships with many farms and local food producers, with about a dozen farms providing the majority of the local produce. These relationships with local farms go back decades, some all the way back to when the first farmstand was built, and allows Atkins to offer its customers local honey, jams, jellies, eggs, cheeses, turkeys, and produce.

Atkins opened a second location in 2015 located on Cowls Road in North Amherst. Atkins is an active member of the local community, donating food and cider to local events and to the Amherst Survival Center. They have a talented group of people working in the stores, from floral arrangers to bakers to specialty buyers keeping up with current food trends. Pauline loves that everyone who works there brings their own talents, and keeping both employees and customers happy is a top priority. Atkins hosts a number of public events throughout the year, including an Easter egg hunt, various tasting events, and a customer appreciation day. On December 9th, there will be a gingerbread house making event, along with a visit from Santa Claus. At the end of January they will hold their winter tasting event, which is a small-scale sampling from local food vendors. And if you’re looking for a local turkey this Thanksgiving, Atkins is accepting orders for fresh Diemand Farm turkeys through November 17.

Karen Randall, Randall’s Farm and Greenhouse photo

As suburban housing replaced the farm fields of her youth in Hampden County, Karen Randall steered Randall’s Farm and Greenhouse through multiple transitions, growing the family business into one of Ludlow’s largest employers. Staying true to its agricultural roots, Randall’s maintains longstanding relationships with local farmers, offers a large selection of locally grown food and other products, and serves as an agritourism destination that connects new generations with farmland.

The farm began in the 1950s when Karen’s father raised poultry and eggs on farmland a few miles north of the future Mass Turnpike. He delivered to restaurants and stores all over the Valley. Along his delivery route he purchased fresh asparagus, potatoes, and other local crops to sell at his small Ludlow farm stand with their own eggs and chicken. Always eager to try new things, he expanded the farm, growing 15,000 tomato plants each spring on rented land and planting vegetable crops on his own 40 acres. In the 1960s he added a successful pick-your-own strawberry operation that ran for several decades.

Karen, who resumed working in the business after college, assumed a leadership role after her father died in 1987. In 2000, Randall’s stopped raising vegetables and began purchasing from local farmers. An innovator like her father, Karen has adapted to changing times by expanding the store’s offerings to include a bakery, deli, and catering, as well as popular cooking workshops. Seasonal activities attract families and serve as reminders of Ludlow’s agricultural history, including a corn maze, fall festival, and scarecrow contest.

Randall’s Farm today is a far cry from the original farm stand. In the 50 years since the first retail structure was built on the property, the business has expanded to include a permanent retail greenhouse, a 12,000 square foot post & beam retail store, and a half-acre garden center. The first farm stand building has been preserved and operates seasonally as “Elsie’s Creamery,” serving homemade premium ice cream made from fresh local ingredients. Open 364 days a year for 12 to 14 hours each day, Randall’s employs more than 100 staff.

Randall’s meets a critical need for both consumers and producers of local food in Hampden County, and serves as one model of successful adaptation for local family farms during changing times. Their motto, “Best Fresh,” captures the company’s commitment to quality, service, and integrity, says Karen, who identifies first and foremost as a farmer. CISA is proud to honor Randall’s Farm and Greenhouse as a Local Hero.

Published in the December 2012 CISA Enewsletter

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Click here for news and more content regarding Franklin Community Co-Op.

“There are more people globally that are members of co-ops than that work for corporations,” says Suzette Snow-Cobb, co-manager of Franklin Community Co-op, which operates both Green Fields Market in Greenfield and McCusker’s Market in Shelburne.  Though you’ll be hard-pressed to find an MBA program that gives play to cooperatives, the reality is that co-ops are a global economic force to be reckoned with, as well as a key force for social change.  “Basically your value as a member is not based on money,” explains Suzette.  “That’s one of the big differences between co-ops and corporations.”

Suzette attributes the success of the Franklin Community Co-op to its “strength in numbers – not only by doing together what you can’t do by yourself, but also by all being on the same equal footing.”  Each of the 2100 members of the Franklin Community Co-op has one vote, and these members hire a Board of Directors, which in turn develops the policies to guide the staff of the co-op.  Members share both in the profit of the co-op (through discounted purchases) and in the responsibility for the success of the co-op (through their patronage and their investment in equity shares).

Franklin Community Co-op got its start during the 1970’s as a small buying club, opening its first storefront in Turners Falls in 1977.  The store was run by volunteer members, who received a discount on their purchases in exchange for their work.  From the beginning, the primary goal of the membership in creating the store was to improve food access – in particular access to “good food,” or healthy, unprocessed food not readily available elsewhere.  The founding members briefly considered organizing as a non-profit dealing with food access issues, but chose instead to incorporate as a cooperative.  “The people at the time felt the model of a co-op was very attractive,” explains Suzette, “because it also meant some involvement and empowerment of the people involved.”

The co-op moved to Chapman St. in Greenfield in 1987 and the membership continued to grow.  During this time members began discussing the idea of making the store more accessible to an even wider range of people by opening a larger store in the center of town.  In 1993 the co-op moved to Main St., opening as Green Fields Market, a much larger space with greater selection and a new deli and bakery.  “There was an explosion of people coming in,” says Suzette.  With an immediate sales increase of 70 percent and an annual growth of around 10 percent in the ensuing years, “it was pretty much non-stop trying to play catch up.”

After so much growth, the co-op faced a new dilemma: how to continue serving a growing membership if they couldn’t all fit in the store!  When the opportunity arose for the co-op to purchase McCusker’s Market, a successful store in Shelburne that carried similar products, the response from members was enthusiastic.  About a third of members lived in the western part of Franklin County, near to McCusker’s Market, and they were excited at the prospect of the co-op expanding its reach into their neighborhood to sustain the store.  After a series of membership surveys and forums, the co-op made the decision to buy McCusker’s Market in 2007.  Suzette points to other recent examples of co-ops buying existing businesses.  “There are so many stories like that now of communities that are saying, ‘We want a co-op so that we have control over how it’s run and so that it doesn’t leave.’” says Suzette.  Each story inspires others: the transition of McCusker’s in turn helped inspire the recent transition of the Old Creamery in Cummington to being a consumer-owned co-op.

Throughout its 35 years, Franklin Community Co-op has supported local farms and producers, and it has formalized this policy in recent years.  “I think co-ops have often been slightly ahead of the mainstream food scene,” says Suzette.  “We attract people that are really trying to think about food and our relationship to food and all that – so things that are not as well known in the mainstream are sort of hitting the ground through co-ops.  Co-ops were conscious of supporting local farmers before that was hip, before that was the thing to do.”  Over the years, the co-op has witnessed increasing interest in local foods.  “We’re fortunate in our area – having CISA and the whole Local Hero program is huge – other areas don’t have that – and also being in a rich farming area, rich in small farms in particular.”  In response to the growing awareness, the co-op now works actively to educate its customers about the local farmers and producers it buys from.  “We didn’t think about doing that earlier,” says Suzette.  “Now we want to tell people.”

Not surprisingly, the cooperative model motivates collaboration not only between members of a single co-op, but among many different cooperatives, and across many different sectors.  When Franklin Community Co-op started in the 1970’s, “co-ops could potentially be described as isolated pockets,” says Suzette, but as the cooperative movement has strengthened so has the sentiment “that we need to collaborate in order to continue moving forward.”  The Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) is one example of such collaboration – NFCA is incorporated as a cooperative of thirty regional food co-ops, each of which pays dues to fund a staff person to help promote regional sourcing, education and outreach.  Another example: the Valley Cooperative Business Association, a newly incorporated cross-sector ‘cooperative of cooperatives,’ which leads joint initiatives on marketing and education about co-ops in the region.

Suzette is the first to point out that Franklin Community Co-op’s story is part of a much larger one.  She is in the process of completing a Master’s Degree at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia in cooperative management, one of the few MBA-type programs focusing specifically on cooperatives.  The cooperative model, though rarely discussed in the business world, has advantages over other business models.  Perhaps the greatest of these is, simply, the strength of people working together on equal footing to achieve common goals.  Co-ops are the only business entity ever to be recognized by the United Nations for their exceptional contributions to poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration.  In honor of this, the UN designated 2012 as the “International Year of Cooperatives.”

The cooperative model breeds resilience – when a business is owned by many members instead of one person, its chances of continuing can be greater.  Similarly, when many co-ops work together to support one another, they can improve all of their chances of success.  After 35 years, Franklin Community Co-op has more than proven its resilience and adaptability in the face of change.  What does the future hold?  Suzette likes to think broadly: “In Northern Italy there are expansive co-ops in the community – all different sorts – also in the UK, and in Spain, in the Basque region.  So if we look at different models that have been successful,” Suzette says, the real question is, “what might we do here.”

In other words, what will it take to shift the conversation from competition to cooperation, and make co-ops a topic of discussion among MBA students worldwide?

Published in the November 2012 CISA Enewsletter

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Click here for news and more content regarding River Valley Market.

In a world where most of our investment money goes to Wall Street, food co-ops like River Valley Market continue to foster a thriving system of local investment.  River Valley Market, a consumer-owned cooperative, got its start largely through loans from its own members, and has already given millions of dollars back to the local community.  In this way, the cooperative business model is a refreshing alternative to the dominant investor-owned business model.  Instead of being guided by the interests of distant investors, a co-op is owned and governed by the very same people it serves.  “Our interest is the most public it could be,” says River Valley Market’s General Manager, Rochelle Prunty.  The choice to be a consumer co-op, she explains, was made because it was “the biggest broadest umbrella you could put a business under that would bring in the most different people in the community.”

With an initial $1.7 million investment from its members, the payoff to the community has already been substantial.  This year alone, River Valley Market provided $3 million dollars to local farms and other local businesses, in addition to $3.4 million to its one hundred employees.  “That’s a really cool thing about co-ops,” says Rochelle.  “Co-ops can aggregate a little money from a lot of people.  You can create a locally owned economic engine that really does strengthen the local community.”

Establishing River Valley Market has had its share of challenges: one of the greatest was finding appropriate real estate.  From the outset, those engaged in planning the co-op were committed to finding a large piece of property to house the co-op.  “There was an early commitment to having a sizable co-op,” explains Rochelle, “so it would have a major economic impact and meet many people’s needs” in the local community.  This posed a challenge, however, since landlords of larger properties typically restrict tenancy to “Triple A” tenants, or those with enough assets to cover 10 years of rental, even if their businesses failed.  This enables owners to get a lower interest rate themselves, but at the same time makes many properties inaccessible to small or mid-sized businesses, giving very large businesses and chains the advantage in accessing much local real estate.

Challenges aside, there were many early indications of success.  Results of market research and financial projections were extremely promising,” says Rochelle, and initial membership drives and loan drives proved “wildly successful.”  The founding group had access to substantial financial support and technical assistance from other food co-ops as well.  “Co-ops help each other,” explains Rochelle, who points out the novelty of such mutual aid in a society where similar businesses are often viewed as competitors.  Not so with co-ops.  Green Fields Market, for instance, loaned River Valley Market $10,000 toward its start-up costs, and other co-ops together gave hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans and loan guarantees.

The search for suitable real estate had continued for almost a decade, with more than one failed attempt at purchasing property, before construction finally commenced at the co-op’s current location in early 2007.  Despite real estate failures and other delays, community investment remained high and the membership had continued to grow over the years.  There were about three hundred member households in 2001, thirteen hundred in 2003, and the co-op opened at last in April 2008 with two thousand members.

Opening just as the economic downturn started, the co-op filled an important community role just when it was most needed.  By focusing on local purchasing from the start, it provided support to many local businesses at a crucial time.  “Some might say that was a bad time to open a business,” acknowledges Rochelle, “but maybe it was a great time to open for the local community… because it really did help.”  The co-op has thrived despite the difficult economic times, and sales have grown significantly each year.  In particular, the amount of food purchased from local producers continues to rise steadily, providing support to countless local farms and food producers.

With over $15 million this year in sales, far beyond projections, River Valley Market is a testament to the resilience afforded by a business model based on investing in the local community.  Fifteen years since the inception of the idea to create the co-op, River Valley Market is now a community fixture, as well as a symbol of what the sustained faith and commitment of many individuals working together can achieve.  A symbol of what cooperation, and local community, can achieve.

“So it was a good idea,” says Rochelle with a smile.  “It feels really lucky.”

Published in the October 2012 CISA Enewsletter

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Click here for an interview and more content regarding Valley Green Feast.

“Personally, I think co-ops are the answer!” says Rebekah Hanlon, who co-owns Valley Green Feast, a local food delivery service serving the Pioneer Valley.  “Creativity and sense of self are really valued in a cooperative.  I really just think it’s going to change the world!”  Valley Green Feast is hoping to change the world on more than one level.  “We have this strong guiding force behind us – we want to help change the food system but also the economy,” explains Rebekah, who calls herself the “co-op cheerleader of the group.”

Valley Green Feast, started by Jessica Harwood in 2008, made the transition from sole proprietorship to cooperative two years ago.  “What does it take to run this business? A bunch of hard working ladies,” declares their website.  Along with Rebekah, Maggie Shar, Molly Merrett and Bekki Szlosek now run the cooperative.  They split up managerial responsibilities but share the ‘on-the-ground’ work of packing and delivering.  This work-sharing is a cornerstone of their philosophy.  “If it’s raining we’re all wet, if it’s hot out we’re all sweating,” says Rebekah.  “You have more understanding of everyone’s work if you’re all doing the same thing.”

“The farmers’ market at your door,” is Valley Green Feast’s tagline.  Valley Green Feast strives to make it easier for consumers to connect to local agriculture by doing the legwork for them.  Customers in towns ranging from Springfield to Greenfield can sign up to have baskets of fresh produce delivered to their door, along with a wide variety of other local products.  Valley Green Feast crafts each week’s basket from the produce that’s in season, purchasing it from farms and other local food businesses they believe in.

Their farms are chosen carefully.  “We know all our farmers; we know where all our food is coming from,” says Rebekah. “It’s wonderful to be able to make the connections with farms we trust – who we know are farming organically or are just down the road.  Most of us do all our shopping through Valley Green Feast, so we need to trust what we’re buying.”  Buying local allows them to achieve a much deeper level of trust than would be possible otherwise – many of the farmers they buy from are personal friends, and Valley Green Feast regularly visits all their farms when picking up produce.

Valley Green Feast is committed to making their food widely accessible.  They accept EBT and offer a 20% discount to anyone using EBT to pay for their produce.  They are active in trying to connect with customers in places where fresh produce isn’t as readily available.  They deliver to towns up and down the Valley and recently established a drop off site at the Holyoke YMCA, where customers can pick up produce without paying a delivery fee.

What does the future hold for Valley Green Feast?  Their customer base has doubled over the past two years, and they are looking to continue this trend.  One way to reach new markets would be to start selling their local produce to schools, and they are enthusiastic about this possibility.  They would first have to gain access to a refrigerated truck, though, which is a significant investment for their small business.

The cooperative structure of the business bodes well for the future of Valley Green Feast.  “If you have the right people in any business situation you can make awesome stuff happen, but the infrastructure behind a co-op lends itself to sustaining that sort of situation,” explains Rebekah.  Because multiple people share ownership and management, “you can plug someone new in and continue the cycle.”  In a cooperative like Valley Green Feast, workers both old and new share ownership of the business, and thus have good reason to be invested in their work.  “You give someone ownership over something and it just changes the way people’s minds work,” says Rebekah.  “Everyone loves being their own boss.”

Published in the October 2012 CISA E-Newsletter

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Click here for an interview and more content regarding The Old Creamery.

The Old Creamery is all about community – and, now on the verge of becoming a community-owned cooperative, is about to become even more locally-rooted.  Downstairs, you can find products from countless local farms, food businesses, artists and others.  Upstairs is the “Sustainability Library,” where community members can come to read a wide variety of books on topics related to sustainable living.  The Creamery also hosts a knitting exchange, seed exchange, and offers free internet access to further encourage its use as a community gathering space.  “If there’s a fire,” says Kimberly Longey, “the Creamery is there with sandwiches for the fire department.”   Kimberly is the president of the co-op’s founding board of directors, and is as enthusiastic about the Creamery’s past service to the community as she is about its future as a community-owned cooperative.

Ever since Alice Cozzolino and Amy Pulley purchased the Old Creamery in 2000, they have thrown their heart and soul into making the small country store vibrant community gathering place and model of sustainability.  Under their guidance, the Creamery has long taken special care to source products from the local community.  They have also been proactive in developing alternatives to the packaging that is nearly unavoidable in retail these days: they spawned a bag-share program, have minimized their use of pre-packaged deli or prepared foods, and installed a commercial dishwasher to avoid using disposable plates and utensils in their café.  They formed a zero-waste bulk foods club as well – for a small fee, members of the club can buy discounted amounts in bulk, receiving hand-sewn bags and mason jars in which to take home food from their bulk purchases.

“Lots of other projects have spun out of the creamery,” says Kimberly, among them the Hilltown Sustainability group, an active community group with the mission of educating the community about sustainable living.  “Alice and Amy drove that sort of thing with their personal energy and the store’s contributions of space or staff time.”

When Alice and Amy began to explore options for selling the business in 2009, they were interested in the cooperative model, and reached out to the Cooperative Development Institute and other local organizations for advice on transitioning to a cooperative.  That winter, they organized a series of community meetings to discuss the future of the Creamery.  At the last of these meetings three hundred people showed up, far exceeding Alice and Amy’s expectations.  “It was relatively mind-blowing,” said Kimberly.  “To have this much turnout in the depths of January was one of the big indicators of solid support.”  A volunteer co-op steering committee formed at this meeting, which later became the founding board of the co-op when the Creamery incorporated in August 2010.

And the community support has only grown since then. “We’ve really blown by all of our goals and expectations,” said Kimberly.  They reached their initial membership goal in six weeks and now have over 500 founding member-owners on board.  The Board of Directors far surpassed their fundraising goals for both gifts and member-loans.   “This community really rallied,” said Kimberly – it’s a further indication of the long-standing support Alice and Amy have generated with their store.”

Currently, as the Creamery transitions to a cooperative structure, the six Board of Directors members are the official members of the cooperative.  This affords Alice and Amy a measure of confidentiality, enabling them to more freely share the intimate details of their business with these board members, knowing this information will only be public once the transition is complete.  Full membership for the remaining 500+ founding members will be initiated as soon as the co-op purchases the Creamery, and at that time a new board will be democratically elected by these members.

As the Creamery transitions to a cooperative many of its core values undoubtedly will remain the same.   “There’s a lot of behind the scenes support for the community that we will probably formalize once we’re in operation – so that members can have a say,” explains Kimberly.  The approach to this community service may change – for example, while Alice and Amy have often asked for donations, as a cooperative the Creamery will strive to be profitable so it can reinvest in its business or redistribute to its member-owners.  “But we imagine the values will be similar,” says Kimberly.  “A focus on small rural towns, focus on food producers and people… those are all things that I can imagine will be shared values among our members.”

And as community members share more in the leadership and responsibilities of the Creamery, the community’s investment in the Creamery (and vice versa) can only become stronger.  Up until now, says Kimberly, “the community has had all of the benefits of a co-op with none of the responsibility – so, when afforded the opportunity to step up, they did.”

Such an impressive show of support from the community – as well as abundant support from other local cooperatives and networks like the Neighboring Food Co-op Association – bode will for the Creamery’s future as a cornerstone of the community.  “Support for new cooperatives,” says Kimberly, is “really strong in our region.  I think it’s a huge part of our launch success and I think it will be a huge part of our sustainability over time.”

Ranging in size from 185 members to more than 5,000, the five food co-ops in western Massachusetts share a participatory economic model of member ownership and deep roots in their communities. Purchasing locally is a priority for all the co-ops, providing a valuable market for local farmers. Their sales range from $85,000 to $14 million annually; as a group these five co-ops represent a significant part of the local food economy with total sales of almost $23 million. Each business is controlled by a board of directors elected by the co-op’s members, and their profits are reinvested into the co-op and local community.

Franklin Community Co-op, which is celebrating its 35^th anniversary in 2012, is the only co-op in this area to operate two storefronts – in Greenfield and Shelburne Falls. North Quabbin Co-op in Orange is both the smallest co-op in the region and the only one run entirely by volunteers. The Old Creamery in Cummington, long a community center for Hilltown residents, incorporated as a co-op in 2010. Leverett Village Co-op is a vibrant hub for its rural community. River Valley Market, the largest co-op in the area, opened in Northampton just months before the 2008 economic crisis and yet in its first four years has exceeded all of its financial goals.

As a steady retail outlet for local farms, food co-ops play a significant role in the regional agricultural economy. “Starting up a new farm and finding new markets is challenging,” notes Ray Young, farmer at Next Barn Over in Hadley. “River Valley Market has been great to work with and an important source of sales for our burgeoning farm. It’s clear they are committed to supporting local farmers and they’re playing a key role in building a vibrant local food system.”

In the face of current economic challenges, food co-ops are further strengthening the local economy through creative collaborations. Several western Massachusetts co-ops, for example, are working with the Neighboring Food Co-op Association’s “Farm to Freezer” pilot project to extend the availability of the season’s harvest to local consumers.

In declaring 2012 the “International Year of Co-ops,” the United Nations estimated that globally one billion people are members of cooperatives. About one in four people in the U.S. belongs to a co-op. With the loyal support of their members, the western Massachusetts food co-ops have surmounted challenges, supported each other as well as other co-ops, and provided inspiration during difficult economic times. CISA honors these five co-ops for demonstrating the viability of a democratic economic model, providing valuable markets for local farms, and strengthening communities in our region.