October is Co-op Month—an appropriate time to reflect upon the differences between stockholder-owned businesses and cooperatives.

The Boards and Executives at most public companies are primarily motivated—and rewarded—based upon one criterion: the value of the company’s st

The goal is to constantly increase stock price and reward investors. This has placed excess emphasis on a company’s investors rather than all stakeholders—including customers, employees, the environment and the greater community in which a company operates.

This general trend is heightened as a greater proportion of the economy falls under the control of publicly rather than privately-owned companies. Family-owned businesses are being acquired by publicly-held corporations more frequently than in previous generations. While it was once common for family-owned businesses to be passed on to succeeding generations, the allure of great wealth now persuades families to cash in the business rather than keep it in the family.

Bringing the cooperative message to the next generation.

Parker Pen, once of Janesville, Wisconsin, is an excellent example. A family-owned business for generations, Parker Pen created quality writing instruments known the world over. In the 1980s, the family sold the company to a British firm which in turn sold it to Gillette. That company then moved manufacturing operations to France, disrupting hundreds of workers in Janesville. Eventually Gillette spun off Parker Pen, which has now all but disappeared leaving little behind where there was once a valued employer and community participant.

Returning to the larger issue of in-creasing emphasis on investors over other stakeholders, interesting ramifications emerge when this trend is examined within the context of food, food safety and food security. Monsanto, DuPont and Archer Daniels Midland, among others, are developing agricultural technologies which make farming more dependent on the products they sell.

For example, Monsanto has developed single-generation seeds which produce infertile crops, thus preventing farmers from using crops for seed and thereby guaranteeing a supply of customers from year to year. Other technological advances have produced plants which are immune to Roundup. While these companies publicize their genetic engineering efforts are geared toward developing crops which are pest resistant, their most successful efforts to-date have been with crops resistant to the herbicides and pesticides which they market—further enhancing market share and profitability. The real motivation is the lack of profitability for these chemical companies in an organic agricultural sector—no chemicals to sell!

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Place Your Holiday Orders Early
By Trina Protz, Member Services

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Q: My child has Down’s Syndrome. Are there any yeast, gluten, soy and lactose-free (all four) products that I could feed him?
A: Down’s Syndrome alone should not prohibit certain foods. If the child also has intolerances or allergies, the following can be used as substitutes in the diet:  Rice “milks”, almond “milks” or oat “milks” for regular milk.

A: Run, do not walk, to your bookstore for Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Intestinal Health through Diet by Elaine Gottschall. North Farm carries the elusive lactose-free ricotta called “dry curd”, Lifeway’s Farmer Quark (#358). Also read The Yeast Connection Cookbook by Wm Crook MD and Marjorie Hurt Jones. Then re-read it every so often.

Never lose heart; this will take a long time to adjust to. Even though you didn’t ask for it, it’s your choice to live by your new lifestyle.

Q: How do you use colloidal minerals as a dietary supplement? I have no idea what it replaces or what condition it is a supplement for.
A: Colloidal minerals are not the best minerals to absorb because their particle size is too large. An ionic mineral in angstrom size is much smaller and has an excellent absorption rate. It is very important to get enough minerals every day.

A: Try diluted Weleda mouthwash and swish every hour when awake. If plain water is too irritating make a very dilute salt solution.

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Or, send an e-mail to  nfcoop@northfarm.com
We’ll report back in the next issue.

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Q: How does one buying club go about transferring equity to another buying club?

A: North Farm Cooperative needs a letter from the coordinator of the buying club transferring the equity and signed with the title “coordinator”. The request needs to specify the two customer numbers involved, the dollar amount to be transferred and a statement by the coordinator stating that all members of the club agree to the transfer.

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In late June your Board of Directors met for two days to review goals, elect officers and determine committee assignments.

Each year we set goals to enable us to measure our effectiveness in meeting your needs. We have adopted preliminary goals along five broad categories: linkage, governance, planning, Board recruitment and futuring.

Linkage issues will strengthen communication with all stakeholders and other cooperative warehouses with an eye for strategic alliances. Additionally, intra-Board communication will increase its utilization of electronic communication, i.e. Board Web page and e-mail.

Completion of our policy governance model (which includes our shared values) will cap off three years of hard work. Simplification of management oversight reporting will allow the Board to move toward one-day Board meetings. Moreover, we will address Board compensation issues and review and update our personnel policy.

Our planning will strive toward a three-year cycle to allow for longer-term strategies. Capital budgeting will follow with a five-year rolling needs assessment.

While some turnover of Board members has occurred recently, the need for a stronger recruitment effort is evident. The Board may create a Recruitment Committee.

“Dreaming the dream” is where a board should spend 80% of its time. This is not true of the North Farm Board. Housekeeping and oversight draw heavily upon our precious time. Completion of our policy governance model should free up Board time for more long-range planning.

January 19 & 20, 2001
March 30 & 31, 2001
May 18, 2001

Board officers elected for the coming year:

The officers make up the Executive Committee which conducts Board business between meetings.

We hope you find the information on our Web site useful when ordering from North Farm. Please let us know what else you’d like to see online. Send your comments to sprocknow@northfarm.com or call 1-800-236-5880, 
ext. 2668.

Last May I promoted Tom’s of Maine at our Natural Products Show; to prepare I spent an hour on the phone with their sales rep out of Chicago, read a lot of their literature, and used their toothpaste, glycerin soap and wellness products. Knowing a little made me want to learn a lot more. I knew Tom was a man with a mission who promotes ideas which sound a lot like those of North Farm and other cooperatives. Naturally, I was quite thrilled to receive Tom Chappell’s personally autographed new book, Managing Upside Down, The Seven Intentions of Values-Centered Leadership.

The book further expands on Tom’s basic premise, “a company can do well by doing good”, first set forth in Soul of a Business (1993). “Managng Upside Down” refers to letting one’s values, such as concern for people and the environment, primarily drive a business, not just profitability. Tom’s philosophy of management grew out of almost 30 years in business with much reflection and soul-searching along the way.

Tom and his wife Kate founded Tom’s of Maine in 1970 with a $5,000 loan. As a young couple they had recently moved to Maine to raise their family and improve their quality of life. Dissatisfied with the laundry detergent available, they created their own which they sold in health food stores. But the product leading to their initial success was toothpaste. Tom and Kate created the first all-natural toothpaste in 1975; before too many years they found themselves competing in major grocery chains beside Crest and Colgate.

From the beginning Tom’s of Maine exhibited great concern for customers and the environment. For example, on every Tom’s of Maine product there is a complete ingredient list (including sources) as well as other product information. Also, all packaging must be recyclable in all 50 states.

As the company grew and more managers were hired, some of the founding principles were compromised in an effort to increase profits. Tom and Kate were so troubled by it they considered selling the company. As part of his soul-searching, Tom attended Harvard Divinity School where he developed the philosophy which reconciled his concern for people and the environment with the need for profitability.

Tom reorganized the company and adopted a team approach. The company donates 10% of its pre-tax profits to nonprofit organizations such as the Jane Goodall Institute; employees are encouraged to spend 5 percent of their paid company time volunteering in the community and the company is as committed as ever to recyclable packaging and to providing complete product information to customers.

Potential employees must agree to the Tom’s of Maine Mission and Beliefs and are further instructed after they are hired. To teach these principles to other business leaders, Tom founded the Saltwater Institute which conducts seminars across the U.S. Tom also wrote Managing Upside Down which I consider an important and unique book on business management from which both business leaders and consumers can benefit.

In reviewing the Tom’s of Maine Seven Intentions as well as their Mission and Statement of Beliefs, I was struck by their similarity to the International Cooperative Principles and to the North Farm Statement of Beliefs.

Since Tom and Kate decided not to sell Tom’s of Maine, the company has at least quadrupled the number of products it manufactures. It has expanded from soap and toothpaste to an array of wellness products which help prevent and help cure illness.

One gets the feeling there is more to come as this unusual family and unusual business continue to grow and evolve.

Seven Intentions of 
Values-Centered Leadership

1. CONNECT: Set aside your own ego, open up, and connect to a universal force that is bigger than you and available to everyone — the power of goodness.

2. KNOW THYSELF, BE THYSELF: Explore who you are, your gifts, and what you care about most in life. These are the clues to finding meaning in your work.

3. ENVISION YOUR DESTINY: Envision your future with your head and your heart. The Upside Down approach is to allow your business goals to emerge from who you are as a company, your essence, your reason for being.

4. SEEK ADVICE: Tom’s of Maine listens to everyone — its board of directors, employees, consultants, suppliers, retailers, and customers.

5. VENTURE OUT: Build a creative strategy for every dimension of your new business, make sure it is aligned with your values, and go for it — even if there is nothing like it in the world.

6. ASSESS: No matter how creative you might be or how unique you are in the marketplace, you are still accountable to your values, vision, and goals. Managing Upside Down is a trial-and-error process, and assessment requires constant affirmation and editing.

7. PASS IT ON: When you receive gifts, knowledge, goodness, extra time, and profits, you are obliged to pass them along to others. Along the way, you set up an exchange of experiences and a trial-and-error process that can help everyone improve.

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• Profitability/Environment
We believe in operating in a financially responsible manner, respecting the environment, providing a healthy and challenging work place and satisfying owners and customers.

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At North Farm Cooperative, we have an overall commitment to the environment—both in the products we carry and in the way we run our business. Concern for the environment is one of the many reasons our cooperative came into being. Our members rely on this commitment and trust our products will reflect our commitment to sustainable living.

Our New Products Committee carefully selects our wholesome, natural products (many containing organic ingredients) and avoids products containing artificial colors, flavorings and preservatives. We also question the environmental impact of potential products—especially the packaging.

Recently, a brand of granola was submitted to the Committee by a vendor and one of the reasons we decided not to bring the product on was because of excess packaging. We knew our members wouldn’t go for a half-full package of granola in a full-size box.

When a natural product is submitted in plastic containers with a recycling symbol of 1 or 2, we would definitely consider it. We would probably dismiss it if the plastic were a 3, 4, or 5 which most recycling programs do not take.

Ultimately, the choice is up to you when you make a buying decision. Information on packaging for many products can be found on our Web site, www.northfarm.com

North Farm takes the job of being a “gate-keeper” for you very seriously. Let us know how we are doing and how we can do a better job for you and for our environment.

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The Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) conference in Boston, MA this past summer featured keynote speaker Tom Webb. His organization is called Global Cooperation. He spoke of the globalization of the world economy and the challenges this mega-trend poses to cooperatives everywhere.

One central idea from his speech sticks in my mind as we approach Co-op Month: the importance of multiple bottom lines. Stock corporations that are driving the global economy have one bottom line, profit. Cooperatives have multiple bottom lines including democracy, community, ecology and working conditions in addition to financial viability. And because corporations control the world economy, the need for cooperatives to counter the trends against people and the environment is greater than ever.

In Madison, Wisconsin this all-encompassing, over-arching need for cooperation and strong local co-ops really hits home for me. The multinational corporations and well-capitalized chain stores put pressure on co-ops all over town.

My favorite coffee shop is Café Assisi Collective Coffeehouse. Assisi is collectively owned, cooperatively managed and sells organic, fair trade coffee and organic foods. The Coffeehouse has been buying from North Farm Cooperative for years and sells coffee from Equal Exchange, a worker-owned cooperative distributor which buys coffee primarily from democratically-run coffee growing cooperatives. (Three levels of co-ops!) They also sell organic juices and smoothies. But the mega chains are within two blocks—Starbucks Coffee and Jamba Juice—with fancy-looking designer stores in the hottest retail locations. They probably have one solid bottomline—profit. Organics? Maybe some, but not most products. Certified Fair Trade products? We’re still waiting for that day to come. One hundred percent of all profits to the workers, the consumers or the community? I’m not holding my breath for that one.

My local consumer-owned, worker-managed natural foods cooperative is Mifflin Street Community Cooperative. If all the nonfinancial bottom lines of Mifflin Co-op could be added up, it would be an incredible powerhouse. Mifflin buys local, sells organics, is run by consensus, pays living wages for ALL employees, is consumer-owned, has a huge percentage of floor space devoted to bulk products and even re-uses packaging to reduce waste. In its Mission Statement, Mifflin sets forth to be a model of alternative economics and has succeeded for 30 years. It’s one of the most human values-based businesses you could ask for. But Mifflin’s sales and membership have declined over the last several years as gigantic chains have opened massive, high-end stores in high-traffic areas of town, gaining market share and pulling away long-term customers with vast capital investments. Former members lament the shortage of parking spaces at Mifflin; coming next year is a 50,000 square foot grocery one block away, complete with hundreds of parking spaces.

The Phoenix Co-op, one of our local affordable housing co-ops, has been a great place to live since the 1970s, when over 1,000 people staged a massive sit-in to fight off a real estate developer who was planning to buy the building and turn it into for-profit rentals. Ultimately the activists prevailed and the Co-op bought the building. Today the quality of co-op living is being eroded as profit-before-people interests are almost surrounding the house with new construction of multimillion dollar high-rise apartment complexes. There are two within the same block, and another is proposed right across the street.

Even North Farm, our “co-op of co-ops”, must compete against businesses with 50 times the annual revenues. North Farm might even be the best example of multiple bottom lines. We’ve got employees on the Board of Directors; we sell healthful and ecological and natural products; we won an award for enlightened hiring practices; we empower consumers by providing a searchable product catalogue on our Web site; and we are a values-driven organization. We start with our values at each long-range planning session; the financial bottom-line is just one on a list, and we review that list each year.

Most aspects of my life are interdependent with cooperatives. I live in one, work for one and get food from Mifflin Street and North Farm. I am also on the North Farm Board of Directors. Although the competition is fierce in the new global economy, I’m staying with co-ops for the long run—to get all the benefits of cooperation, not just the financial ones.

The original pioneers at Rochdale each invested ten weeks’ wages to start their little store because they knew that a strong capital base was critical for success. So for Co-op Month, I’m celebrating by shopping as much as I can at co-ops —  because that’s the bottom line.

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DEFINITION: A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.

VALUES: Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.

PRINCIPLES: The cooperative principles are guidelines by which cooperatives put their values into practice.

FIRST PRINCIPLE: VOLUNTARY AND OPEN MEMBERSHIP
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibility of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

SECOND PRINCIPLE: DEMOCRATIC MEMBER CONTROL
Cooperatives are democratic organizations controlled by their members who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary cooperatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are organized in a democratic manner.

THIRD PRINCIPLE: MEMBER ECONOMIC PARTICIPATION
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of the cooperative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the cooperative. They usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing the cooperative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible, benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the cooperative and supporting other activities approved by the membership.

FOURTH PRINCIPLE: AUTONOMY AND INDEPENDENCE
Cooperatives are autonomous, self-help organizations controlled by their members . If they enter into agreements with other organizations, including governmental, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.

FIFTH PRINCIPLE: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND INFORMATION
Cooperatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their cooperatives. They inform the general public—particularly young people and opinion leaders—about the nature and benefits of cooperation.

SIXTH PRINCIPLE: COOPERATION AMONG COOPERATIVES
Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.

SEVENTH PRINCIPLE: CONCERN FOR THE COMMUNITY
While focusing on member needs, cooperatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.

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My first experience with a co-op was back in the late 1970s at the Outpost in Milwaukee. A big new world opened up to me. I learned about organic food and sustainable food production; the environmental and health hazards of industrial, intensive chemical farming; Fair Trade; bulk buying; natural supplements and the many alternative diets.

Heck, I didn’t know what a vegan was. The thought that people actually went without eating meat—ever—puzzled me. I wondered, “What do they eat?” “Where do they get all the nutrients they need?” Now I know, due in part to the information available to me from co-ops.

Cooperatives provide a lot of information to consumers. I find that educational aspect stimulating. They provide us with information about issues directly related to the food all of us need. They offer us a friendly place to gather and make new relationships, shop, learn and get involved in our communities.

Cooperatives have also been known to be political hot spots for food and environmental issues. They connect, unite and empower us by giving us the information and the tools to act. Concerns ranging from GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), food irradiation, labeling, organic production and certification, petitions, boycotts and so much more are tackled by cooperatives.

It’s a far different experience shopping at the huge megamart—that feeling of being lost in aisle 256 in a monotony of over-processed, chemically-saturated, nutritionally-voided cheap food. The co-op is a cornucopia of sights and scents. It’s a fun atmosphere to shop in. The sometimes higher prices reflect the value behind their products for the producer, the buyer, the co-op and co-op employees.

I saved that one very crucial area for last: the employees. At most cooperatives, employees tend to know their business and are actively involved. This should not be overlooked. How many times do you look for assistance in a store and find none? Great reflection on that business isn’t it? At a co-op it is common to find friendly, knowledgeable staff eager to assist you. The cooperative store with its high quality, clean, safe, beautifully displayed foods; its friendly, helpful staff; its concern for the environment, people and community and the democratic way it operates is the logical place to shop.

During Co-op Month, take time to think about why cooperatives are important to you, your family and your community.

I’ll see you at the co-op!

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Who better to give you recommendations on great North Farm products than we who live with them all day? With all the product sampling that occurs around here no one is ever hungry.

Suzanne Huyser, Sales Rep
I love Uncle Matt’s Apple Juice (4225); it tastes just like apple juice from the cider mill—100% organic, it’s great!

Seth Nowak, Board Member
My favorite North Farm product? That’s an easy one: Muir Glenn Canned Diced Tomatoes (19468) — they are SO delicious! At my house, we get ‘em by the case and use ‘em in spaghetti sauce, on homemade pizza and in all kinds of dishes.

Also, Natural Touch Okara Patties (#7037). One patty gives a whopping 11 grams of protein, 3 grams of dietary fiber, no sugar and 5 grams of fat (only 1 gram saturated). I warm them in the microwave and eat them as finger food—an instant snack to tide me over ‘til dinner.

My kids’ favorite: Newman’s Peanut Butter w/Milk Chocolate Cups (#10719). We use them for a variation of s’mores. Very tasty!

Manufacturer’s Profile: Thai Ktchen

Thai Kitchen has come a long way from the early days of Seth Jacobson selling curry pastes and fish sauce out of the trunk of his car to a handful of Bay Area accounts. Today Thai Kitchen has over 45 products and is sold in 50 states and nine countries in Europe. Thai Kitchen is the number one imported brand of Thai food in the world. Thai Kitchen offers everything the American consumer is looking for—taste, quality, authenticity—the best of Thailand.

Eric’s Salmon Meal Magnifique
By Eric Boylan, CPA, Controller