Co-op Innovation in the Food System
This winter join the Nebraska Cooperative Development Center as we have conversations with cooperative businesses making positive changes in our food system. These sessions are intended for anyone who wants to learn about creative ways that producers, processors, community members and others can work together to address issues present in the food system - from land access to fair wages and infrastructure needs. Participants will hear from a wide range of cooperative businesses, and get answers straight from the owners.
Find information about the sessions and register below.
Session One: Co-ops, Small-Scale Livestock Producers, Fair Prices and Big Impacts.
A conversation and Q&A session with Cody Hopkins of Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative.
Online via Zoom / December 6, 2022 / 12 - 1pm CST
Join us for a lively conversation and Q&A session with Cody Hopkins, CEO of Grass Roots Farmers' Cooperative and Co-Founder of Falling Sky Farm (Leslie, Arkansas). We'll talk about how and why Grass Roots cooperative started, what makes their approach innovative, and how it's making a difference in the lives of their producer-owners.
Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative is a group of small-scale family farmers who formed in 2014 to transform the way meat is produced and consumed across the USA. Raising small batches of chickens, turkeys, cattle and pigs on 100% fresh pasture, they implement innovative practices—using agricultural methods that regenerate the soil, being the first and only meat producer in the U.S. using blockchain technology to track products from farm to plate, and using the cooperative model as a mechanism to provide fair prices to it's producer-members.
Session Two: Unique Land Access, Worker-Cooperative Farm and Perpetuating Community Generosity.
A conversation and Q&A session with Hannah Breckbill of Humble Hands Harvest.
Online via Zoom
December 13, 2022 / 12 - 1pm CST
Hannah Breckbill co-founder of Humble Hands Harvest in Decorah, Iowa will join us for a conversation about their unique land access story, how that story ties into their "commons" project which aims to make it easier for the next generation of farmers to get started, and the benefits of organizing their highly diverse farm as a worker-cooperative.
"Humble Hands Harvest is a worker-owned co-operative farm, growing 2+ acres of organic vegetables, grass-finished sheep, pastured pork, and fruit and nut trees. We distribute at the Winneshiek Farmers Market in Decorah; and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for both our veggies and our meat. We found our long-term home in 2017 on Hidden Falls Road, 10 miles from Decorah, on ancestral Sauk, Meskwaki, Lakota, and Ho-chunk land, and began functioning as a worker-owned co-operative that same year.
Humble Hands Harvest practices un-conventional, organic, visionary, slow-growing agriculture. We strive to create a resilient landscape that grounds a vibrant local culture."
Session Three: TBA
Online via Zoom
January 2023
More information coming soon!