Fedco Seeds is still a cooperative

[crl...@fedcoseeds.com]

Hello Jane Livingston and others in Cooperative Maine,
Point of information: Fedco Seeds always has been and is still a Cooperative. We
are a 60% consumer/40% worker cooperative hybrid, although we operate more like a
worker cooperative than like a hybrid. Laddie Lushin helped write our
incorporation papers and by-laws many years ago. We have sent out
patronage/worker dividends every year now for many years. I am not active in
Cooperative Maine though I still am on the mailing list, really am too busy to
get involved in anything else, especially since I live half in Mass. and half in
Maine now. Fedco has grown a lot and now does over $3.6 million dollars sales a
year so it is a lot to keep up with. Wonder how the misinformation got out that
we are no longer a coop--any ideas on where you heard that? --cr lawn

On Fri 01/15/10 8:18 AM , "Jane Livingston" jane_li...@myfairpoint.net sent:
>  Re: CDF Responds to Massive Earthquake in Haiti Hi Jon,
> Thanks for getting back to me, and as a longtime CU member and
> champion, thank you for responding to this enormous humanitarian
> need. I am cc'ing this to Cooperative Maine so anyone on that list
> who is a CU member can access the link. What a great URL. Another
> reason I am forwarding this. Perhaps we should consider the /Maine
> extension... And perhaps the CU League would like to have someone
> (maybe a CUDE contact?) sit in on the monthly phone calls (next one is
> this coming Tuesday morning). Cooperative Maine is an
> all-voluntary effort by an extraordinary group of people spread
> across the state, committed to supporting and growing the cooperative
> economy. Seems like a natural fit for the League. Best regards,
> Jane Livingston ----- ORIGINAL MESSAGE ----- FROM: Jon Paradise
> TO: Jane Livingston SENT: Thursday, January 14, 2010 4:01 PM
> SUBJECT: Re: CDF Responds to Massive Earthquake in Haiti
> Hi Jane -
> I am well. The Maine CU League, in partnership with the National
> Credit Union Foundation, today activated its online disaster giving
> site at www.cuaid.coop/maine
>
> Our member credit unions are referring members to the site and we
> have a link on our homepage at www.mainecul.org.
> On 1/14/10 12:29 PM, "Jane Livingston" wrote:
>
> Hi Jon,
>
> How are you these days?
>
> Are US cerdit unions doing anything like this?
>
> I edit a newsletter for the Master of Management, Co-operatives and
> Credit Unions international post-graduate program and would like to
> put a bulletin together for our listserve.
>
> Best Regards,
> Jane Livingston (Veazie, Maine)
> jane_li...@myfairpoint.net
> (207) 947-4117
> ----- Original Message -----
> FROM: Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF)
> TO: jane_li...@myfairpoint.net
> SENT: Thursday, January 14, 2010 11:41 AM
> SUBJECT: CDF Responds to Massive Earthquake in Haiti
> CDF RESPONDS TO MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI
> January 14, 2010
> In our urgency to reach all of our network there is a
> possibility that this could be a duplicate email. We are sorry for
> any inconvenience.
> _Ottawa, January 14, 2010 -_The Co-operative Development
> Foundation of Canada (CDF) is raising funds in response to the
> horrific earthquake that is estimated to have already claimed
> thousands of lives in Haiti. Working in partnership with the World
> Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), CDF will be providing relief to
> those affected by the disaster.
> Wayne McLeod, CDF President, and the CDF Board are reaching out to
> Canadians and are asking them to support those who have lost so
> much. "The people of Haiti already had difficult lives, and it's
> almost impossible to imagine the devastation the earthquake has
> brought them," said Wayne McLeod, CDF President.
> According to reports, reverberations from the earthquake's
> epicenter, located 10 miles south of Port-au-Prince, have all but
> leveled Haiti's capital city. Hospitals have crumbled, as have the
> presidential palace and the United Nations peacekeepers'
> headquarters. The death toll continues to rise and survivors are
> still being dug from the rubble. "We appreciate CDF's willingness
> to partner with us in our efforts to support the credit unions and
> other partners of our project in Haiti," said Valerie Breunig,
> Executive Director of the Worldwide Foundation, WOCCU. In
> July 2009, WOCCU established its program to extend financial
> services to Haiti's rural poor with funding from the United States
> Agency for International Development. Communications lines have been
> down since yesterday's earthquake, and contact with WOCCU program
> staff still hasn't been established, making an accurate assessment
> of the damage to Haiti's credit unions difficult to determine.
> CDF is now accepting donations to provide assistance to Haiti's 175
> credit unions and the nearly half-million members that they serve.
>
> To support Haiti's credit unions and their members through the
> international credit union disaster relief fund, make payments via
> check, credit card or mail. Donate online NOW or by mail at
> Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada , Suite 400, 275 Bank
> Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2L6.
> Please phone or email Sarah Richardson , CDF Fundraising
> Officer.
> Email: sarah.ri...@coopscanada.coopPhone: (613) 238-6711 ext.
> 217
> Please indicate that your donation is designated for the HAITI
> DISASTER RELIEF FUND.
> _The Co-operative Development Foundation of Canada (CDF) is the
> charity of choice for Canadian co-ops and credit unions. CDF raises
> money to support the development of co-operatives and credit unions
> in Africa, Asia, The Americas, and Eastern Europe. Co-operatives and
> credit unions have proven to be effective tools in helping poor
> people work their way out of poverty. The money raised by CDF is
> primarily used by the Canadian Co-operative Association (CCA), in
> its efforts to reduce poverty in more than 20 countries around the
> world. CCA is a national association representing co-operatives and
> credit unions in Canada. _
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[Jane Livingston]

Hi CR and all
Apologies for the error. Maybe the rumor has its roots in the fact that
Fedco began as a 100% worker-owned cooperative, and is now owned primarily
by the consumers.
Okay, I have to sign off and go get my Fedco seed order in the mail!
Best, Jane

[Paul Sheridan]

CR:

"Wonder how the misinformation got out that we are no longer a coop--any ideas on where you heard that? --cr lawn "

While I cannot say how the misinformation started, I can say that it is fairly widespread...sorry to say.

I remember sitting in a meeting of my fellow board members at Belfast Co-op a few years back, and the same question was asked.

Today, I gave another look at Fedco's seed catalog and could only find the word "co-op" on the back cover, as part of the logo.  Inside, despite lengthly text on a variety of subjects, there is nothing about Fedco being a co-op.  Your website does give more background on your co-op status, however.  But I, for one, would like to know more about your hybrid status.  The catalog and website both seem to be silent on how one becomes a consumer member, for example.

So I am suggesting that a first step is to come out of the closet about your co-op status, and proclaim it loudly, in larger type, several times in your catalogs, and on the bottom/top of every web page.

And then poll the workers/members of Fedco to see who might be interested in a bit of involvement with co-ops within the state:  Rochdale principle #6: “Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.”

I hear you about being overworked, but you do list a good dozen or more people in the catalog (maybe all are not worker members, but simply listed for credit as artists?). 

Thanks, and looking forward to a growing and healthy Fedco, and the co-operative movement!

Paul Sheridan

member, Co-operative Maine

[Erbin Crowell]

As a consumer member of FEDCO and co-operator, I’m confused by this perception that FEDCO is somehow not a co-op or had hidden its identity.  This perception does seem to have eroded the support of some food co-ops, as I increasingly see conventional seed company products on the shelves, despite FEDCO’s quality, price and co-op identity.

I’d like to offer some information from FEDCO’s website: http://www.fedcoseeds.com/about_fedco.htm

“We are a cooperative, one of the  few seed companies so organized in the United States. Because we  do not have an individual owner or beneficiary, profit is not our  primary goal. Consumers own 60% of the cooperative and worker members  40%. Consumer and worker members share proportionately in the cooperative’s  profits through our annual patronage dividends.
 
Our cooperative structure gives workers a real  voice in running the company and a real stake in its success, enabling  us to attract and retain talented workers. Year after year our staff  turnover has been very low.
 
Our  company culture derives from our history as a cooperative.  Our first customers were other cooperatives and we developed  many of our procedures specifically to serve them. Although  we have diversified, a significant proportion of our business  still comes from cooperative or group orders. Our dedicated  group order coordinators are partners in our business. We  encourage you to make cooperation work for you by forming  ordering groups to take advantage of our generous volume discounts.  It is easy to form a group: get together with friends, neighbors,  co-workers or other members of your club, grange, county or  state organic chapter, church or coop. Click here <http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/groups.htm>   for more information.

The cooperative ethic recognizes that we are all  in this together. What is good for our managers should be good for  our workers and good for our customers and vice versa.

A number of years ago, I inquired with FEDCO about consumer membership, received a prompt response, and joined.  While I would love for FEDCO to use it’s catalog more actively to promote it’s model, and we could all improve our operations as co-ops, they don’t hide the fact that they are a co-op – as shown above, for example.  They also have a special fund that provides grants to co-op efforts, among other things.

I’d also love to have FEDCO more actively involved in the wider movement.  As a co-op that has been creative in incorporating both workers and consumers in it’s structure — and operating successfully for many years — FEDCO may have some important lessons to share with other efforts to support the growth of the movement.

In Co-operation,
Erbin Crowell

[knox dem]

Ahh, purists at work. We have worked with Fedco for years a a friend ,not a member. They are far from me or we would join and hang with them. They are real.  On a point of information, Any with open minds might try reading the new book by Stewart Brand[ from Whole Earth Cat]   "Whole Earth Manifesto"  This might challenge some opinions some might have and suggest NEW WAYS OF WORKING TOGETHER.  Call your friends in Mass and encourage them to vote. --- On Sat, 1/16/10, crl...@fedcoseeds.com <crl...@fedcoseeds.com> wrote:

From: crl...@fedcoseeds.com <crl...@fedcoseeds.com> Subject: [Cooperative Maine] Fedco Seeds is still a cooperative