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High Plains Food Co-op receives rural business enterprise grant
By Mary Holle
The newly formed High Plains Food Co-op, a loosely knit group of livestock producers, consumers and farmers, recently received good news that boosts their efforts to have an up-and-running web-based cooperative by next spring.
HPFC was awarded a $40,000 rural business enterprise grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development program. Plus, the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, the co-op's sponsoring organization, will donate $23,000 in matching funds.
"We are hoping this grant can be a catalyst to help the co-op get off the ground," Bob Mailander, director of the RMFU Cooperative Development Center, said. "The grant will be used basically for two things…one is for a feasibility business plan and market study and two, for connecting consumer groups with producers.
"We need a person to work with four structures - production, storage, packaging and transportation," he continued. "We will also be looking for an efficient way to move the product from the plains to the target market in the front range."
The grant money is good news for the fledgling cooperative. Organizers have had the idea of an area food cooperative on the back burner for several years.
Wanting to provide farmers with another income source by direct marketing their products is one of the hopes of the RMFU cooperative Development Center's director.
Co-op history
Chris and Sherri Schmidt brought the idea of a food cooperative home to Rawlins County after attending a weekend meeting in Lindsborg in the spring of 2005.
A year later, RMFU, the Ogallala Commons, Rawlins County HomeTown Competitiveness and Rawlins County Economic Development held a food workshop in March in Atwood.
Another year passed and more people became intrigued with the idea.
RCED Director Chris Sramek helped Mailander and Ogallala Commons Director Darryl Birkenfeld contact area producers, food services personnel and consumers for an organizational meeting. About 30 people from several communities in Northwest Kansas and Northeast Colorado attended the March 29 meeting at the Aberdeen in Atwood.
Jo Hagney and Becky Roberson of St. Francis agreed to be the co-chairman of the HPFC steering committee. The committee has been alternating meeting sites between St. Francis and Atwood monthly since that time.
Monthly meeting update
Details concerning delivery, distribution, producer surveys and target areas were discussed at the July 19 meeting in Atwood.
Mailander told the group last Thursday that the grant will also assist in helping pay for the update to the software program that will be used by HPFC. The software was created by the Oklahoma Food Co-op and provided for free to other food cooperatives.
HPFC will need to update the software, but it is also usable as is, Vicki Hunnicutt-Bishara, of the Weston A. Price Foundation in Denver, said.
Sramek suggested using the domain name now and providing information on the reserved web page as a tool for recruiting more producers.
"We need to get the web page up as soon as possible to explain the soty of the co-op," he said.
Sramek suggested that anyone interested in providing products for the co-op should contact him at 785-626-3640 for more information.
The committee's next meeting will be in Yuma, Colo., where the group will meet with several consumer groups.
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High Plains Food Co-op could become reality
By Mary Holle
An eclectic group of about 30 people attended the organizational meeting of the High Plains Food Cooperative last Thursday at the Aberdeen Steakhouse in Atwood.
Those attending included producers, food services personnel, consumers and the local grocery store owner. The communities of St. Francis, Bird City, Atwood, Oberlin, Jennings, Selden, Hoxie, Colby, Haxtun, Colo., Holyoke, Colo., and Kanorado, Colo., were represented.
"We believe the nature of agriculture is changing," Bob Mailander, director of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Cooperative Development Center, said. "More producers are looking at alternatives and asking what can we do to expand our operations?"
Mailander explained that forming a food cooperative can help producers make a transition from commodities-based agriculture to production-based agriculture, which is where the producer directly markets to the consumers.
Some benefits of having a food co-op include: supporting family farms and communities, providing high quality and fresh products to consumers and eliminating the middleman.
In creating the High Plains Food Co-op, Mailander said the process has to start small. A mission statement, principles and strategies need to be in place, he said. He stressed that communication needed to be maintained and continued throughout the process.
Vicki Hunnicutt-Bishara of the Weston A. Price Foundation in Denver, spoke about the consumer side of a cooperative and what they want.
"They will drive long distances to get what they want," she said. "Consumers want this food," she said. "It's a growing trend and they are willing to pay the costs."
Jay Wilson, a poultry farmer from Haxtun, agreed with Hunnicutt-Bishara.
"People in Denver want what we've always taken for granted," he said. "People are willing to purchase what we have."
Dan Hobbs, also with RMFU development center, told the group that a "wonderful window of opportunity has opened," for producers.
"Farmers have been largely squeezed off the front range, which has set the stage for a potential production crisis," he said. "This is an exciting time for agriculture if we can just link these things together."
Kim Barker of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative also spoke about the evolution of his co-op as one of the founders.
"If you eliminate the middleman, you'll have to do his job," he said.
Barker said the Oklahoma Food Co-op has set a workshop for others interested in learning about food cooperatives in May at their distribution center in Oklahoma City.
About 14 people signed up to be on the steering committee to organize the High Plains Food Cooperative. Mailander said the name had been reserved on the Internet for use by the group. Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and Ogallala Commons had both invested in the site and were available for technical assistance also, he said. Rawlins County Economic Development and HTC also sponsored the workshop.
Jo Hagney and Becky Roberson of St. Francis agreed to be co-chairmen of the steering committee.
Hagney grows a wide variety of herbs and has created herbal rubs and an herbal spread.
Roberson is known throughout the area for her bierocks that she markets in local grocery stores.
"We need another outlet for producers," Hagney said. "That way we can cut out the middleman and keep the money at home.
"I had been following the Oklahoma Food Co-op on their web site and had planned to visit," she said. "When this workshop [in Atwood] came up, I thought it was a good idea and wanted to take advantage of it.
"We have a lot of great products in this area, but some are going to waste because there is no place to market them," Hagney said. "I know it will take about two years for this co-op to be up and running. The hardest part will be the wait and to be patient, because I want it now!"
Hagney said she hoped area producers will cooperate and present their ideas for the co-operative.
"I hope they will take advantage of it," she said. "I forsee great things for the High Plains Food Co-op."
For more information, contact Chris Sramek, RCED director, at 785-626-3540.
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