FOOD COOPERATIVE PLANNED FOR MARSHFIELD
Monday, February 28th, 2011 -- 11:53 AM
Area communities could soon be served by a local food cooperative.Liz Gisvold says the food cooperative concept has been catching on around the country. It gives consumers more say in the foods they purchase and producers an avenue to market almost directly to buyers?
"The idea is to give back to the local community, involve more local produce," Gisvold explains, "stimulate the economy, you don't have to ship produce from all different areas."
Members of the cooperative would have more control over the types of food that are brought to the cooperative.
Planning for the Marshfield Area Food Cooperative is still very preliminary. The first major step will be conducting a business study to make sure it could sustain itself.
The cooperative would likely operate largely like a grocery store.
"You walk in, get a grocery cart, purchase your food; however, it's a little different," she says, "in the sense that you get to see where your food comes from. Most of the food has labels on it...it comes from this farm or that farm. (Most of the items) are grown organically or grown naturally, which means it's not certified organic, but they don't use things that are harmful."
The store would be open to cooperative members and non-members alike, but membership would have some privileges.
There will be an informational meeting about the concept Monday night (2/28) at the Marshfield Public Library. It starts at 5:30 p.m. Gisvold says it?s open to potential producers and consumers alike. You can learn more by visiting [url=marshfieldareafoodcooperative.com]marshfieldareafoodcooperative.com[/url].
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.