2021 Cooperative IMPACT Conference Video Archive

Join us for an insightful discussion on NCBA CLUSA’s Farmer-to-Farmer program. During this session you’ll hear from a few of our stellar volunteers and learn about how they were able to practice Cooperative Principle 5: Education, Training, and Information, during a global health crisis. NCBA CLUSA’s USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program sends American farmers and agribusiness professionals on 2-4 week agricultural development assignments, promoting sustainable growth and agricultural development worldwide. Volunteer technical assistance from U.S. farmers, agribusinesses, cooperatives and universities helps smallholder farmers in developing countries improve productivity, access new markets and conserve environmental and natural resources. During COVID-19 we have shifted to a hybrid volunteer model that affords US volunteers and in-country volunteers the opportunity to continue to provide technical assistance.

Based on a case study by Júlia Martins Rodrigues and Nathan Schneider, this session offers a powerful approach to expanding the cooperative economy. Starting with entrepreneurs in the Colorado solar energy industry, they developed a multi-stakeholder network of single-stakeholder co-ops, combining a worker co-op, purchasing co-op, shared-services co-op, credit union and investment co-op. This network offers what could be a replicable model for scaling cooperative businesses despite the challenges of accessing capital. Bringing together co-op employees and researchers, this session will highlight specific strategies for how others can learn from this example.

Food access and food security are momentous issues for communities nationwide. Cooperatives and cooperative development centers are keenly aware of this. Many are developing the ideas and means to ensure their members and communities get the affordable, high quality food we all need and deserve. This panel, coordinated by USDA Rural Development and NCBA CLUSA, will highlight the work of cooperators from across the country to discuss their work solving problems in their communities. These cooperators have: • Created successful strategies to compete against dollar stores; • Explored solutions for rural grocery stores unable to buy in typical quantities; • Nurtured new farmers and supply chains to address food insecurity; and • Engineered win-win solutions for both farmers and low-income communities in need of healthy, nutritious food during the pandemic. Attendees will leave this session with more knowledge about the role cooperatives can play in addressing food access and food security.

This session is sponsored by Nationwide.