Picture by Jim Turner

Why opt for food co-ops?

Becoming a member of a food co-operative not only provides for fresh and healthy food that is grown locally and often organically, it also enables more resourceful, sustainable living, with waste being kept to a minimum. Food co-ops therefore have multiple health, nutritional, environmental , economical and social advantages for producers and customers, such as:

  1. Food co-ops typically offer more natural/organic foods, at more economical prices.
  2. They benefit farmers economically by increasing their profit and reducing food waste. Food co-ops therefore support the local economy because consumers pay local farmers rather than large food corporations.
  3. Joining a food co-op cuts down on environmental pollution by reducing the distance food must travel to get to its consumers. Moreover, food co-ops don't package their fruits and vegetables, which reduces paper, cardboard and plastic waste.
  4. Food co-ops bring communities together. Consumers learn exactly where their food comes from and they get to meet the farmers who grew it. What's more, members of the community meet one another at the farm or farmers market, which often leads to additional community events and activities.

Examples

Projecto Fruta Feia

Auteur : Claudia Coimbra - Publié le : 2013-08-26 14:11 -

Projecto Fruta Feia ("Ugly Fruit") aims to minimise the social and environmental impact of food waste. The idea is to channel all rejected fruit and vegetable products to consumers that do not judge the quality of the product solely on appearances.

GAS (Gruppi di Aquisto Solidale)

Auteur : Anne-Iris Romens - Publié le : 2013-05-14 13:22 -

Most notably developed in Italy, GAS ("solidarity purchase groups") bring together consumers who wish to buy products as a collective from one or more producers.

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