Strengthening Local Food Relationships
By Clem Nilan, General Manager
On Wednesday, July 18, I met with Terry Appleby, General Manager of Hanover Consumer Cooperative Society (which runs the Co-op Food Stores of VT and NH), Chuck Ross, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, and Abbey Willard, Vermont Local Foods Administrator. Our Co-op owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Terry Appleby. When we first opened, we did not have the systems in place to run a large grocery store having transitioned from a much smaller store.
Terry made all of the resources of the Hanover Co-op available to us and he continues to be a great friend, teacher and resource to our Co-op. Terry recounted a story to Secretary Ross about when the Burlington City Council was grappling with the decision to award the downtown Burlington grocery spot to either Shaw’s or the Onion River Co-op. Terry appeared before the Burlington City Council in his role as General Manager of Hanover and spoke eloquently on how a downtown food cooperative would enrich the Burlington community. The rest is history.
I arrived for the meeting few minutes early, just as Secretary Ross was finishing up his previous meeting with Roger Albee, his predecessor as Secretary of Agriculture. I have enormous respect for Roger Albee, who is a walking encyclopedia of Vermont agricultural history. In this day of political gridlock in Washington, I was impressed that Secretary Ross would use Mr. Albee’s knowledge as a personal resource (from a previous Republican administration) to strengthen the Vermont food economy.
The goal of our meeting was to discuss how Vermont food cooperatives enhance working relationships. Both Governor Shumlin and Secretary Ross have strong co-op backgrounds and have been wonderfully supportive of Vermont food co-ops. Governor Shumlin is a member of the Putney Food Co-op (check out their video celebrating the International Year of Cooperatives) and is regularly seen at Co-op functions. Recently, at the dedication ceremony for Deep Root Organic Co-op’s Johnson facility, Secretary Ross spoke eloquently about the importance of co-ops to the Vermont economy.
The Co-op meeting we had with Secretary Ross and Ms. Willard was quite fruitful. In order to more fully understand the scope of Vermont food cooperatives, Secretary Ross requested we share some data, including the number of food co-ops in Vermont, the size of our membership, annual sales, and sales of local products. In terms of planning for the future, our co-ops will continue to be incubators for start-up food businesses as well as support for the State's effort to introduce new vendors into the marketplace. We all agreed that there is tremendous opportunity to enrich our local food system. We’re now looking for ways to collaborate on larger visionary projects such as opening a local oatmeal processing facility.
Periodically, I get a major case of goosebumps realizing how wonderful a place Vermont is. This sometimes happens when I have to leave the State for a while and then return with fresh eyes. Yesterday was one of these instances. I am so proud to work for an organization and with people like Terry who have done so much good for our communities. We’re blessed that Vermont has more food co-ops per capita than any in the country. I'm also proud that our Secretary Ross is so supportive of our local food movement, extends such a helping hand and is appreciative of the work that co-ops are doing for Vermont. Many thanks to our members for keeping us strong!