GUEST BLOG POST By Bonnie Hudspeth, Neighboring Food Co-op Association Dairy farmer John Haynes, one of eight siblings, is the only sibling who stayed on the farm with his father. John claims that he has spent “half of his lifetime” clearing their pasture because his father was so committed to pasture grazing. John hasn’t plowed his … Read More
Cooperatives
Co-op Track at NOFA Features NEFU Speaker
New England Farmers Union was one of many presenters to be part of the Neighboring Food Co-operative Association’s (NFCA’s) track on “Co-operatives in the Food System” at the 41st annual NOFA Summer Conference, held at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in August. Roughly 50 people attended workshops in the track, which is in its second … Read More
Farmers Union Hails Cooperatives and the Empowerment They Bring to Rural America
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson today hailed the nation’s many and varied cooperatives, noting that they have brought both political and economic might to family farmers, ranchers and rural America for over a century. “Since the founding of our organization 113 years ago, Farmers Union members have demonstrated that they not only believe … Read More
New England Farmers Union Awarded 2 RD Grants
New England Farmers Union was awarded two of 385 grants through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business Development Grant program. The USDA committed $20 million in funds across the nation to help support the start-up or expansion of rural small businesses. The education foundation of the New England Farmers Union received funding for our work on … Read More
Collaboration Supports Healthy Food Access at New England Food Co-ops
Over the past 18 months, New England Farmers Union Education Foundation, in partnership with affiliate member the Neighboring Food Co-op Association, worked with the Co-operative Fund of New England and Hunger Free Vermont on a project called Food Co-ops & Healthy Food Access. The project supports neighboring food co-ops to make healthy food and co-op ownership more … Read More
Franklin Community Co-op Meeting Unites Members, Suppliers
The annual meeting of the Franklin Community Co-op, the parent of western Massachusetts food co-ops Green Field’s Market and McCusker’s Market, was a chance for co-op members to learn more about the workings of their co-op, and to meet some of the folks who supply its food. That’s where farms and New England Farmers Union … Read More
Young Co-operators Gather in Twin Cities
More than 150 attendees from 25 states and Puerto Rico, including three members of New England Farmers Union, participated in the 2015 National Farmers Union (NFU) College Conference on Co-operatives in Minneapolis, MN, earlier this month. The participants learned how co-operative businesses are adapting to changing environments and heard from co-operative experts from across the … Read More
NEFU’s Co-op Convening: A Productive Conversation to Advance Co-operative Enterprise in our Region
Against the backdrop of fresh powder and the prospect of a long weekend, a group of New England farmers, leaders from Vermont’s farmer, worker and consumer co-ops, and state policymakers gathered in Burlington, VT, last weekend for the 2014 Co-op Convening, organized by New England Farmers Union (NEFU). From the United Nations International Year of … Read More
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