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We are proud to be part of a movement that proves respecting people is good for business. Millions of consumers around the globe have joined cooperatives for many reasons, including finding that they fill a need for housing, electricity, food, insurance and financial services…the list is endless. What attracts people to cooperation is that their co-ops operate on their behalf with honesty, fairness and transparency—they are based on values not unlike those people aspire to for themselves: self-responsibility, democracy, equality, and social responsibility (www.ica.coop). In the United States, 30,000 co-ops provide two million jobs, and one of every four people is a member of a cooperative.

These values connect us. Co-ops foster real relationships with their customers by providing service rooted in community. It’s all about trust. For example, at Just Food Co-op in Northfield, Minn. they actively support and seek out local farmers such as L&R Poultry and Produce (see more about them in the Celebrity Farmers video), wherein they have a handshake agreement to buy their products each season. The farmers know that the co-op will keep its word, and Just Food shoppers can expect the highest-quality food grown with integrity. At food co-ops, it’s not uncommon for customers to know the real people who stand behind the products available.

Cooperative values also transcend co-op size. It doesn’t matter whether your cooperative is so large that it employs thousands of people, or so small you can fit everyone involved in a single room; co-op values remain the same.

The outdoor adventure retailer REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) is the largest consumer co-op in America with 17 million members. Their size allows them to act on their ideals in places all across the country. This has a big impact. In addition to adhering to the stated co-op values, they also take them one step further by actively protecting the environment. That’s what co-ops do. They strive to go above and beyond to do what’s right. At REI, how they operate their stores, the products they carry, and the millions of dollars they have donated to safeguard forests, lakes and prairies, have the end goal of preserving natural spaces and keeping the earth a better place for everyone.

The food co-ops that make up National Co+op Grocers (the organization behind this site) have over 1.3 million members across a “virtual chain” of 148 retail food co-ops nationwide. Collectively, food co-ops have a strong social and economic impact. They work with an average of 157 local farmers and producers (compared with 65 for conventional grocers). They contribute to the community with high levels of charitable giving, an average of 13% (compared to 4% for conventional grocers). Plus food co-ops generate more money for their local economy—1.5 times more than conventional grocers. Find more info on how food co-ops do things differently and the impact they have in our Healthy Foods, Healthy Communities post.

Co-ops demonstrate their commitment to ethics by extending them in an ever widening circle. When a co-op makes a profit, you can be assured it was gained through fair business practices, and in most cases, any surplus is reinvested in the co-op or shared equitably among member-owners.

Some of those co-op value circles start very small and grow into greater influence, changing lives in the process. In 2008 in Whatcom County in Washington state, four women got together to start the Circle of Life Caregiver Co-op. Theirs is a worker-owned health care co-op dedicated to excellent home care for the elderly and disabled. In an industry rife with low-pay and apathy towards clients, Circle of Life offers a refreshing alternative, where self-help provides everyone with more options.

We know none of the great things co-ops accomplish would be possible without the people worldwide who use co-ops to meet their needs.

Every Thursday afternoon, I drive to a warehouse space tucked away out of sight in a shady looking industrial area next to the railroad tracks. I go to meet my ‘connection.’ I bring an innocuous-looking green bag and make my way discreetly to a shady area against the building. Ah, there’s the stuff I need, the stuff I’ve been craving. I look around to see if anybody is watching. My source tells me to help myself because this stuff is primo. I mean like, grown within a few miles of town and picked that day.

These organic vegetables are the best I’ve ever seen!

This is my weekly habit, and I can’t get enough. It’s my CSA pick-up, and it keeps my family eating local, seasonal produce for most of the year. “CSA” stands for “community supported agriculture.” It’s a great way to support your local farmer. You pay the farmer a set amount of money at the beginning of the growing season, and then, throughout the summer (and sometimes throughout the spring and fall and even winter), you get to pick up a load of freshly picked veggies once a week. You never know what you’ll get, or how much. It all depends on what kind of a year the farmer is having. Your pick-up may be impacted by droughts or floods, hail or early frost, but many small farmers wouldn’t make it in the business without this community investment.

For my part, every week, it’s like I’m getting veggies for free because they are pre-paid, and I love the surprise and challenge of figuring out what to make out of my haul. However, using all the vegetables without letting anything go to waste has always been difficult for me. I hate having to throw a bag of tomatoes or a bunch of kale into the compost pile because I forgot to use them before they got too old. Therefore, this week, I challenged myself: Use every single veggie item in my CSA bag, without throwing away a single thing.

MY CSA bag

In order to complete my mission, I first had to plan. I laid everything out on the dining room table. This is what my CSA bag contained:

5 stalks rainbow chard
Bunch of kale
Bunch of collard greens
3 Japanese eggplants
2 yellow onions
1 head of garlic
3 Roma tomatoes
1 bag of small tomatoes
3 yellow plum tomatoes
1 large slicing tomato
1 small bag of assorted sweet peppers
4 large red bell peppers
1 small head of Chinese cabbage
5 yellow potatoes
6 red potatoes
1 dozen eggs
1 herbed focaccia

Next up: menu mapping

This involved a long Saturday morning drinking coffee with coconut milk and reading cookbooks. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. I not only marked recipes that included the ingredients I already had, but I marked those I know I will want to make in the future when, for example, the fall squashes begin to come in, or next spring when we get peas and Asian greens and asparagus.

After a quick trip to the co-op to buy the ingredients I would need to finish the recipes I chose (a jalapeno, some vegetable broth, cream and butter from a local dairy), it was time to start cooking.

First up: Saturday brunch

 (Who says brunch is just for Sundays?) With a dozen beautiful brown local eggs, obviously eggs were on the menu. I sauteed some of the chard and kale with one of the onions, two cloves of garlic, one large bell pepper, and 4 small tomatoes. I added eight beaten eggs and served this colorful dish with buttered slices of herbed focaccia (about a quarter of the loaf). Served four.

After this fortification, I dumped all the leftover vegetable trimmings into the compost pile and kept going.

Next on the menu: soup

For the soup, I chopped the remaining chard and collard greens and half the kale, and sauteed them in olive oil with three cloves of garlic. I added six of the small sweet peppers and a jalapeno pepper I already had in the fridge. Next, all the Roma tomatoes, the kernels cut from three remaining ears of sweet corn from last week’s pick-up (bonus points!); half a box of organic vegetable broth; a can of garbanzo beans; and a handful of chopped fresh basil from a friend’s garden. Salt, pepper, simmer until dinner (I could have also put it in the slow cooker).

While the soup simmered, I shredded the cabbage, drizzled it with apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and toasted sesame oil, a few dashes of soy sauce, and a handful of toasted sesame seeds. I packed this into glass jars and refrigerated it. For dinner, we had big bowls of hot soup with crusty slices of focaccia (another quarter loaf) and sesame coleslaw, along with a chicken from a local farm that I roasted for the meat eaters in the family.

On Sunday morning

I made a smoothie for breakfast using coconut almond milk, protein powder, 1 cup of frozen blueberries, and the rest of the kale. All greens officially used.

For Sunday dinner

I put a roast (from a local grass-fed beef farm) in the slow cooker with white onion slices, the rest of the sweet peppers, two cloves of garlic, and the rest of the red potatoes, quartered, plus a liberal dose of the oregano I had dried from a pick-up earlier in the month.  All sweet peppers officially used. I turned the slow cooker on high. Four hours until dinner.

Next, vegetable moussaka. First, I cooked and mashed the remaining potatoes with some olive oil. In two casseroles (one to serve, one to freeze for later), I layered eggplant slices, zucchini slices, a tomato puree cooked with brown lentils, and the mashed potatoes, and baked it until the mashed potato topping was golden brown. I plated the roast and arranged the slow cooker vegetables around it, then drizzled the meat juices over the top (fortified with a splash of Madeira wine and a dab of butter). Our hearty dinner: Moussaka, roast, a big salad, and the rest of the focaccia, buttered and toasted and sprinkled with the last two cloves of garlic, minced

Let’s see, what’s left? Just four eggs. A simple crème brulee for dessert took care of those.

Monday morning

I realized with pride and a little disappointment that I didn’t have a single item left. Not one veggie. Not one egg. Not one slice of bread. The only thing I’d thrown into the compost pile was the vegetable trimmings. Nothing wasted, leftovers for the week, and I did it all in two days.

This is what local eating looks like. Take an hour to plan, an hour to shop and organize, and devote some of your weekend time to cooking, and you’ll see it’s not difficult at all to prepare simple wholesome foods like soups, casseroles, eggs with vegetables, and smoothies, using all local foods. These kinds of foods are quick, easy, and don’t take much culinary skill. They are budget-friendly meals and they taste far superior to anything made with out-of-season vegetables at the grocery store. None of the dishes I made were complicated or any more time consuming than going out to a sit-down restaurant. They are all customizable for seasonal vegetables, and I know the money I’m spending on food stays right here in my own community.

If you don’t already participate in a CSA, why not give it a try? Challenge yourself to use your entire CSA pick-up, or farmer’s market basket, or co-op shopping bag full of local produce. Find recipes, in cookbooks or online, that use as many of your local, fresh ingredients as possible. Make big batches of food and freeze the leftovers. Because wasting these tasty local, organic vegetables is a crime—or it should be!

What will be in my CSA pick-up next week? Not knowing is all part of the fun. Will there be eggplant? Rainbow chard? Blue potatoes?  Brussels sprouts? A truckload of corn? Whatever it is, I’m ready. As soon as my “connection” shows up again, I’ll gather my cookbooks, pour myself a cup of coffee, and start planning.

With a dozen common varieties readily available, choosing a winter squash to prepare can be confounding for the home cook. We’ve compiled descriptions of common varieties as well as some handy tips for selecting the right squash for you and plenty of delicious squash recipes you’ll love.

General selection tips

Winter squash are harvested late summer through fall, then “cured” or “hardened off” in open air to toughen their exterior. This process ensures the squash will keep for months without refrigeration. Squash that has been hurried through this step and improperly cured will appear shiny and may be tender enough to be pierced by your fingernail. When selecting any variety of winter squash, the stem is the best indication of ripeness. Stems should be tan, dry, and on some varieties, look fibrous and frayed, or corky. Fresh green stems and those leaking sap signal that the squash was harvested before it was ready. Ripe squash should have vivid, saturated (deep) color and a matte, rather than glossy, finish.

Acorn

This forest green, deeply ribbed squash resembles its namesake, the acorn. It has yellow-orange flesh and a tender-firm texture that holds up when cooked. Acorn’s mild flavor is versatile, making it a traditional choice for stuffing and baking. The hard rind is not good for eating, but helps the squash hold its shape when baked.

• Selection: Acorn squash should be uniformly green and matte—streaks/spots of orange are fine, but too much orange indicates over ripeness and the squash will be dry and stringy.
• Best uses: baking, stuffing, mashing.
• Other varieties: all-white “Cream of the Crop,” and all-yellow “Golden Acorn.”

Blue Hubbard

Good for feeding a crowd, these huge, bumpy textured squash look a bit like a giant gray lemon, tapered at both ends and round in the middle. A common heirloom variety, Blue Hubbard has an unusual, brittle blue-gray outer shell, a green rind, and bright orange flesh. Unlike many other winter squashes, they are only mildly sweet, but have a buttery, nutty flavor and a flaky, dry texture similar to a baked potato.

• Selection: Choose a squash based on size—1 pound equals approximately 2 cups of chopped squash (tip: if you don’t have use for the entire squash, some produce departments will chop these into smaller pieces for you).
• Best Uses: baked or mashed, topped with butter, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
• Other varieties: Golden or Green Hubbard, Baby Blue Hubbard.

Butternut

These squash are named for their peanut-like shape and smooth, beige coloring. Butternut is a good choice for recipes calling for a large amount of squash because they are dense—the seed cavity is in the small bulb opposite the stem end, so the large stem is solid squash. Their vivid orange flesh is sweet and slightly nutty with a smooth texture that falls apart as it cooks. Although the rind is edible, butternut is usually peeled before use.

• Selection: Choose the amount of squash needed by weight. One pound of butternut equals approximately 2 cups of peeled, chopped squash.
• Best uses: soups, purees, pies, recipes where smooth texture and sweetness will be highlighted.

Delicata

This oblong squash is butter yellow in color with green mottled striping in shallow ridges. Delicata has a thin, edible skin that is easy to work with but makes it a poor squash for long-term storage; this is why you’ll only find them in the fall. The rich, sweet yellow flesh is flavorful and tastes like chestnuts, corn, and sweet potatoes.

• Selection: Because they are more susceptible to breakdown than other winter squash, take care to select squash without scratches or blemishes, or they may spoil quickly.
• Best Uses: Delicata’s walls are thin, making it a quick-cooking squash. It can be sliced in 1/4-inch rings and sauteed until soft and caramelized (remove seeds first), halved and baked in 30 minutes, or broiled with olive oil or butter until caramelized.
• Other varieties: Sugar Loaf and Honey Boat are varieties of Delicata that have been crossed with Butternut. They are often extremely sweet with notes of caramel, hazelnut, and brown sugar (They’re delicious and fleeting, so we recommend buying them when you find them!).

Heart of Gold/Festival/Carnival

These colorful, festive varieties of squash are all hybrids resulting from a cross between Sweet Dumpling and Acorn, and are somewhere between the two in size. Yellow or cream with green and orange mottling, these three can be difficult to tell apart, but for culinary purposes, they are essentially interchangeable. With a sweet nutty flavor like Dumpling, and a tender-firm texture like Acorn, they are the best of both parent varieties.

• Selection: Choose brightly colored squash that are heavy for their size.
• Best uses: baking, stuffing, broiling with brown sugar.

Kabocha (Green or Red)

Kabocha can be dark green with mottled blue-gray striping, or a deep red-orange color that resembles Red Kuri. You can tell the difference between red Kabocha and Red Kuri by their shape: Kabocha is round but flattened at stem end, instead of pointed. The flesh is smooth, dense, and intensely yellow. They are similar in sweetness and texture to a sweet potato.

• Selection: Choose heavy, blemish free squash. They may have a golden or creamy patch where they rested on the ground.
• Best Uses: curries, soups, stir-fry, salads.
• Other varieties: Buttercup, Turban, Turk’s Turban.

Pie Pumpkin

Pie pumpkins differ from larger carving pumpkins in that they have been bred for sweetness and not for size. They are uniformly orange and round with an inedible rind, and are sold alongside other varieties of winter squash (unlike carving pumpkins which are usually displayed separately from winter squash). These squash are mildly sweet and have a rich pumpkin flavor that is perfect for pies and baked goods. They make a beautiful centerpiece when hollowed out and filled with pumpkin soup.

• Selection: Choose a pie pumpkin that has no hint of green and still has a stem attached; older pumpkins may lose their stems.
• Best uses: pies, custards, baked goods, curries and stews.

Red Kuri

These vivid orange, beta carotene-saturated squash are shaped like an onion, or teardrop. They have a delicious chestnut-like flavor, and are mildly sweet with a dense texture that holds shape when steamed or cubed, but smooth and velvety when pureed, making them quite versatile.

• Selection: Select a smooth, uniformly colored squash with no hint of green.
• Best Uses: Thai curries, soups, pilafs and gratins, baked goods.
• Other varieties: Hokkaido, Japanese Uchiki.

Spaghetti

These football-sized, bright yellow squash are very different from other varieties in this family. Spaghetti squash has a pale golden interior, and is stringy and dense—in a good way! After sliced in half and baked, use a fork to pry up the strands of flesh and you will see it resembles and has the texture of perfectly cooked spaghetti noodles. These squash are not particularly sweet but have a mild flavor that takes to a wide variety of preparations.

• Selection: choose a bright yellow squash that is free of blemishes and soft spots.
• Best uses: baked and separated, then mixed with pesto, tomato sauce, or your favorite pasta topping.

Sweet Dumpling

These small, four- to-six-inch round squash are cream-colored with green mottled streaks and deep ribs similar to Acorn. Pale gold on the inside, with a dry, starchy flesh similar to a potato, these squash are renowned for their rich, honey-sweet flavor.

• Selection: pick a smooth, blemish-free squash that is heavy for its size and is evenly colored. Avoid a squash that has a pale green tint as it is underripe.
• Best uses: baking with butter and cinnamon.

Miscellaneous Varieties

At some food co-ops, farmer’s markets, and apple orchards in the fall you may encounter unusual heirloom varieties of squash that are worth trying. If you like butternut, look for Galeux D’eysines, a rich, sweet and velvety French heirloom that is large, pale pink, and covered in brown fibrous warts. You might also like to try Long Island Cheese squash, a flat, round ribbed, beige squash that resembles a large wheel of artisan cheese. If you prefer the firmer, milder Acorn, you might like to try long Banana or Pink Banana squash. If you like a moist,dense textured squash (yam-like), try a Queensland Blue or Jarrahdale pumpkin. These huge varieties are from Australia and New Zealand, respectively, and have stunning brittle blue-green rinds and deep orange flesh. Both are good for mashing and roasting.

Interested in exploring how much there is to love about winter squash? Check out our collection of Sweet and Savory Winter Squash recipes and articles.

You are the reason food co‑ops are here

Food co-ops were formed by people in your community who wanted access to healthy, delicious food with reduced environmental impact and less waste, and co-ops remain community-owned and operated to this day. You help co-ops continue this proud tradition every time you choose to shop at one, invest in ownership or tell a friend about your local food co-op. You are the co-op difference.

Thanks to co-op shopper support, local farmers and producers continue to have a market for their delicious food, organic agriculture continues to grow, local food pantries and nonprofit organizations have a strong partner and together we are making progress towards a fairer food system.

People like you make it happen. When you shop at the co-op, your money makes a bigger impact in your local community than at a typical grocery store. At the co-op, your food dollars work to support a robust local economy, a vibrant community and a healthy environment.

When you shop the co-op, you cast a vote for a robust local economy, a vibrant community and a healthy environment.

You help create a robust local economy

When you buy local products, more money stays in your local  community, making it more economically resilient and sustainable. Co-op shopper are supporting local entrepreneurs and small businesses and are making a difference!

When you shop the at co-op, you are supporting local farmers and producers as well as investing in supply chain transparency. We have made a commitment to empowering entrepreneurs and small business owners in our area by bringing their products to market — but shoppers are the ones who keep them in business. Local products at food co-ops around the country average 21% of total co-op sales, compared with a national grocery store average of just 1.8%.

A stronger local economy is just one benefit. It’s easy to support local producers; their products are delicious! Co-op shoppers’ demand for the good stuff results in the average food co-op being able to work with 185 local farms and producers, resulting in over $283  million in combined sales of local products at co-ops nationwide.

In an increasingly consolidated food system, it’s difficult to know where your food is coming from, let alone who is getting paid to grow, pack, ship and stock it. When you buy local products you are creating local jobs and can easily see who benefits from your purchases.

You help grow a healthier environment

Organic agriculture supports the health of our planet. Organic farming methods are more sustainable and have been identified as a key way to slow down climate change. Whether you buy one organic product or many, you are part of the solution!

Whether you buy a few organic products or many, that purchase helps support the current and future health of our planet. Organic farming methods have been scientifically validated as being not only more sustainable, but a potential answer to some of our most pressing environmental problems. On average more than 33% of the products co-ops carry are USDA Certified Organic and represent 42% of a co-op’s total sales, compared with a national grocery store average of just 5%.

Certified organic food by law cannot be grown using toxic pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or GMO seeds. Beyond the benefit to individual shoppers is the positive impact organic agriculture has on natural systems. Organic methods are supportive of all levels of life from soil microbes to pollinators to the health of farm workers in the fields.

Nationwide, co-op shoppers demonstrate an inspiring commitment to the environment, with organic sales at co-ops totaling over $415 million annually.

You help to tackle food waste

Co-op shoppers support the production of fresh, organic veggies, free range meats, pastured dairy, wholesome deli and baked goods; food co-ops make sure as little gets wasted as possible.

Co-op shoppers love to eat fresh, with sales of fresh (perishable) foods at co-ops representing 35% of total sales, slightly more than your typical grocery store (32%). Co-op shoppers support the production of fresh, organic, locally grown vegetables and fruits, humanely raised and grass fed meats, free range eggs, pastured dairy, wholesome deli food and bakery items, artisan breads and cheeses. Who’s hungry?

The flip side of all that fresh goodness is that food spoilage is a perennial challenge for the food industry. Diverting food from the landfill is the key, and co-ops tackle that through donations to food pantries, composting and better utilization of cooking scraps.

Nationally, the average food co-op is donating 24,100 pounds of healthy, edible food to food pantries annually, with a total of more than 1.5 million pounds of food donated in 2016 alone. Similarly sized grocery stores divert an average of 12,500 pounds, about half of what co-ops do.

You help bring people together

You don’t have to be an owner to shop the co-op — but ownership is empowering and everyone is welcome. Co-op shoppers are investing in a better way of doing business.

As a co-op shopper, you can choose to invest in ownership. You don’t have to be an owner to shop at the vast majority of food co-ops, but ownership is economically empowering and gives you a voice in how the co-op is run. Everyone is welcome to own a share of the co-op.

Democratically elected boards govern with guidance from seven international cooperative principles that apply to all cooperative businesses. These principles are designed to help directors and managers of the co-op make decisions based on a commitment to economic and social justice and equity for all stakeholders. Crucial among these is voluntary, open ownership without discrimination based on gender, social, racial, political or religious identification.

The principles that guide co-ops are in many ways responsible for the inspiring community, economic and environmental impact that sets us apart from conventional grocers. It is because of owner commitment to this vision and these values that a better way of doing business is possible.

You help to nurture community

Co-op shoppers support the work of local organizations that are dedicated to making a better world for us all. Co-op shoppers are improving local communities nationwide!

Co-op shoppers are incredibly generous — in 2016, food co-ops contributed over $2.6 million to charitable causes in their local communities, in both cash and in-kind donations, thanks to shoppers’ patronage and continued support of charitable programs.

As community-owned and operated organizations, co-ops  are able to ensure that a higher percentage of revenue is donated than at typical grocery stores, a 44% higher rate on average, to be exact! Co-ops offer a variety of ways for owners and customers to donate to community organizations, whether by voting on recipients at the annual meeting or by providing customers the option of “rounding-up” purchases to the nearest dollar at the register, earmarked as a donation.

Co-op shopper support also makes it possible to provide nutritional education, classes and community events at co-ops nationwide. With an average of 92 outreach events per co-op each year, there is almost always something going on!

You help to grow fair trade business

When you purchase fair trade products, you are contributing to the improvement of people’s lives. Thanks to co-op shopper support, co-ops are one of the best places to find fair trade products in the United States.

At the co-op, you can choose to purchase fair trade certified versions of products you love like coffee, tea and chocolate. Fair trade certification means that the producers are getting a fair price for their products and their labor.

Co-ops sell a higher percentage of fair trade products than other natural and organic products grocery stores, and co-op shoppers’ support of fair trade is huge. Combined co-op sales of fair trade products nationally top $32 million annually. 

Co-ops across the country routinely work together to raise awareness about and increase support for the great things fair trade businesses are accomplishing. In 2016, co-op shoppers raised over $80,000 for La Riojana Cooperative in Argentina, whose fair trade organic olive oil and wines are exclusively available at co-ops. Co-op shopper support is helping family farmers attain organic certification for their vineyards and improve operations.

You help to support sustainable solutions

Co-op shoppers demonstrate a deep concern for the environment. Co-ops take this commitment seriously and are working together to take on some of today’s biggest challenges. Co-op shoppers are at the center of what makes the co-op difference!

Since 2012, food co-ops have been working together to offset a portion of greenhouse gas emissions associated with business travel and utilities by growing a Co+op Forest  in the Peruvian Amazon.

The idea behind this unique carbon offset program is simple: food co-ops, directly and through their national co-op, calculate their annual carbon emissions (from business travel, utilities, etc.), then fund the planting or protection of a corresponding number of trees to absorb (offset) that carbon. When trees naturally absorb carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — from the atmosphere, it effectively slows the rate of climate change.

As of 2016, Co+op Forest is home to an estimated 1.4 million trees, which will offset 2,738 metric tons CO2e within their lifetimes. We are proud to report that due aCo+op Forest resides was honored as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, to serve as a model of sustainable communities.

About this content

This content is based on a 2017 study commissioned by National Co+op Grocers and conducted by the ICA Group, a not-for-profit consulting firm with expertise in cooperatives, economic development and business research.

Our co-op is a member of National Co+op Grocers, (NCG)—the organization behind this site—a business services cooperative for retail food co-ops located throughout the United States. NCG represents 147 retail food co-ops operating over 200 stores in 38 states with combined annual sales over $2.1 billion and over 1.3 million consumer-owners.

As part of an ongoing commitment to demonstrate the value of the cooperative business model to local communities, NCG began measuring the social, environmental and economic impacts of food co-ops in 2012 compared to conventional grocers.

A PDF version of this content is available in booklet format.

Check out the results of our 2012 food co-op imact study, Healthy Foods, Healthy Communities, which includes a video and infographics.