LoveLandLocal Food Buying Cooperative

PURPOSE

We are joining the LoveLandLocal Food Buying Cooperative for a number of reasons.

• We are interested in finding quality organic food at a reasonable price. We want to save money on our food bill without damaging the planet, the farmers, or our own health.
• We want to conserve petroleum and reduce emissions by buying food that doesn't have to travel so far to get to us (the average food item in a supermarket has traveled 1500 miles to get there).
• We want to support local farmers, small farmers, and family farms. We want to help them resist the real estate developers, and the massive agri-business processors, fewer and larger all the time. (Agricultural writer A.V. Krebs observes that the Philip Morris corporation alone receives 10 percent of every single dollar spent on food in the U.S. ConAgra alone gets 6 percent. All the farmers in the U.S. put together get just over 4 percent.)
• We want to have confidence that our food is not GMO, not irradiated, not doused with preservatives, not contaminated by the effluent from huge feedlots.
• We want to make our meals from real whole foods, the way nature made them, not premade in a factory with dozens of ingredients we can't pronounce, high in carbs, trans-fats, high-fructose corn sweetener and/or salt.
• We want to be prepared with stored staple foods in case of natural disasters, unemployment, supply disruptions, rampant inflation, or other dangers.

FOODS

• All foods are certified organic. We would consider buying from an individual farmer that is not certified organic, but we would have to be very sure of his/her agricultural practices.
• We buy either from a farmer or from a wholesaler that buys from a farmer. We do not buy through the commodity food chain.
• We only buy foods that are produced in the United States. We favor foods from the Rocky Mountain West, particularly Colorado, and will choose the closest source we can find, even if food from a more distant source is cheaper.
• Types of foods we might offer: bulk grains and beans, flours, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables by the case or box, honey, sunflower oil, dried fruits and nuts, possibly bulk meats from pastured stock. There may be other products in the future.
• We sell items by the bag or box, by the half-gallon jar (standardized to 3.5 or 4 lbs), or by the pound. You must provide your own jars or smaller bags.
• We DO NOT BUY any GMOs, foods grown with herbicides or pesticides, or CAFO meats or eggs (in other words, no feedlots, no battery chickens, no pork factories). There will be no compromise on these issues.

HOW IT WORKS

• Around the first day of each month, we send out an email list of available foods, sources, and prices. People reply by email with their interests. In the second week, we coordinate these orders into the sizes that are necessary to buy, for example a 25-pound bag of popcorn. This may involve another round of emails. Then we send invoices to the members, who send back a check for their purchases.
• Distribution day will be on Thursdays, the second from the last Thursday of the month. It will be at Unity Church at 1342 North Washington Street, Loveland, Colorado. We will have a jar for small donations to the church in return for the favor they are doing us.
• We have no overhead, no warehouse space, no paid employees. Therefore, we can't guarantee to have any particular item "on hand". If enough people are interested to buy an entire bag or box, we buy it. If not enough are interested, we do not buy it. We encourage people to be flexible as to how much they want, since it enables us to fill out many more items.
• Adoption: If a member really wants to get an item, he or she can order a full bag, and sell smaller amounts to members at the standard price on distribution day. By the same token, members who have ordered a full bag for themselves can choose to fill another member's order for a few pounds at the standard price.
• We pay sales tax when we buy goods, not when we sell them to our members.
• We are asking a $5 membership fee when you join, to cover any incidental expenses.
• Any charges for transportation of food to the distribution area will be prorated by pound of food purchased, and the expense passed on to members.
• We have a special checking account just for LoveLandLocal at the Sunrise Credit Union. Two members are signers on this account, and will check each other's work. Although this is not a 501(c)(3) organization, it is definitely non-profit. Whatever price we need to pay for the bulk foods, we charge exactly that price per pound, including sales tax and transportation cost. There is no mark-up.
• People need to bring their own jars, bags, buckets, or other storage items to distribution day. We will not be providing storage items. On distribution day we will work together to weigh out individual purchases. It will not be done ahead of time for you.
• It's important that members show up on distribution day, or send someone on their behalf. If this is impossible for a member, he or she should contact the cooperative manager and make arrangements.

CONTACTS
Please contact Lynnet Bannion, Lynnetnb@frii.com, 970 667-2640 for more information, or to be added to the email list.