October 28, 2022, is the date for this year’s Annual Meeting of the Monadnock Food Co-op. All our Owner-Members are encouraged to join us for the meeting which will be held at Stonewall Farm in Keene. The meeting starts at 5 PM with social time, including local beer and wine, and appetizers provided by our own Prepared Foods Department. We will have our business meeting, the naming of this year’s Cooperator of the Year, and the announcement of the individuals elected to serve on the Board of Directors.
The theme for our 2022 meeting is “Sustaining our Local Farms.” We are looking forward to hearing from our keynote speaker, Britt Lundgren. Britt is the Director of Organic and Sustainable Agriculture at Stonyfield Farm, where she has been since 2011. Prior to joining Stonyfield, Britt spent five years as an agricultural policy specialist for the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington, D.C. She holds a Master of Science in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from Tufts University. Britt serves on the board of the Sustainable Food Lab, as an advisor to the New Hampshire Conservation Law Foundation, AGree, and Food Policy Action, and is a past board member of the Sustainable Food Trade Association. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Massachusetts, and Colorado, and is an avid fiddle player. Britt will talk about the Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership which was recently created by Gary Hirshberg, Stoneyfield’s co-founder.
Organic family farms in the Northeast have been struggling to stay afloat after Horizon Organic’s parent company, Danone, cut contracts with nearly 90 farms in August 2021. These farms, including 28 in Vermont, relied on the revenue Danone provided when it bought milk from organic farmers in the region. The Northeast Organic Family Farm Partnership is a first-of-its-kind partnership, created to solve the crisis of disappearing family farms.
Be sure to watch for more information on how the register to attend the meeting and how you can you vote in the Election for Board members. Watch this space in next month’s Board News for information about our candidates.
