COOPERATIVE DEVLOPMENT
What is a Cooperative?
cooperative
[kōˈäp(ə)rədiv]
ADJECTIVE
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involving mutual assistance in working toward a common goal.
"every member has clearly defined tasks in a cooperative enterprise"
synonyms:
collaborative · collective · communal · combined · common · joint ·
NOUN
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a farm, business, or other organization which is owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits or benefits.
"we run the agency as a workers' cooperative"
Cooperation among cooperatives is not just a principle or slogan, it represents our strategy for competing with the agricultural behemoths that currently dominate the industry, making it harder for small Black farmers and farmers of color to survive.
Our strategy:
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Regional Workshops such as our Annual CoopEcon and Coop Symposium – programs centered around cooperative development education, networking, and providing hands-on information for coop building
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Academic Alliance Building – a program that builds partnerships with colleges, universities, and technical schools to educate students about cooperatives, and provide them with places to apply classroom knowledge in the real world.
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Cooperative Developer & Manager Training – a program led by FSC/LAF's Rural Training Center to teach members and staff about cooperative development and managing coop
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Regional Cooperative Development – our methodology for harnessing the regional capacity of our rural member farmers is to first build State Associations, followed by the development of more Cooperative Development Centers, and finally by coordinating the production activities across the region to fulfill the demand of our partner network.
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Click & listen Terence Courtney & Dania Davy of the Federation discuss Cooperative Development on Episode #1 of Federation Conversation, our podcast.
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