Empowering farmer-led cooperatives to lead climate action
Supporting farmer cooperatives has long been a central part of Farmers Union’s mission and that has continued throughout the decades, adapting to the changing needs and challenges faced by Minnesota farm families. As climate change continues to impact and effect agriculture across the state, there’s opportunity for cooperatives to once again meet the need for meaningful, farmer-centered solutions.
We’re excited to announce a new pilot grant program, Cooperatives for Climate, that will fund farmer cooperatives in developing solutions for climate resilience. These grants will support Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) members who have, or are currently in the process of, organizing themselves into cooperatives that respond to climate-related challenges and opportunities.
Often, solutions to climate change focus on individual entrepreneurship – think tech start-ups in Silicon Valley – or on public policy solutions. While both of these are important pieces of building out meaningful and scalable climate action, cooperatives offer additional social and community benefits that are critical for ensuring a sustainable and resilient future.
Farmer-owned cooperatives reduce costs of production, maintain a reliable source of inputs, effectively market and process farm products, improve livelihoods, and help strengthen rural communities. MFU members already provide leadership in the patronage, direction, operation, and development of cooperative enterprises across the state, and in the education of members and the public as to cooperative philosophy and principles.
This pilot program is intended to identify and respond to the needs of farmers in creating cooperative climate change solutions. Cooperatives for Climate will empower farmer-led cooperatives to build capacity for organizing business that leads climate action by:
- developing and building support for farmer-informed solutions that will position agriculture to play a greater role in mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change;
- supporting scalable, community-driven solutions that promote economic vitality in agricultural communities;
- championing inclusivity of rural communities and farmers, and facilitating the opportunity for participation in climate resiliency through practical and grounded action.
The grants will be dedicated to providing support for technical assistance and business development services. This support encompasses a wide range of services, including feasibility study, business plans, market assessments, establishing governance documents, as well as carbon and greenhouse gas inventory or assessment. Selection criteria included climate impact, results, support for emerging farmers, work plan and budget. A committee of MFU members reviewed applications and made recommendations following discussion of each application holistically.
The 2023 Cooperatives for Climate grant recipients are:
Award amount: $25,000
Location: Pine River, Minn.
Description: Headwaters Beef Cooperative aims to aggregate and process cull beeves into branded ground beef products that would add value and stabilize cull cow prices to producers. The cooperative will bring conservation to the marketplace, providing stable prices to farmers and ranchers, and a healthy affordable protein to consumers, while protecting water quality, improving wildlife habitat and addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation. Technical service projects will include leadership development, cooperative incorporation, and a market sector analysis of on-farm standard of production.
Award amount: $15,000
Location: Northeast Minnesota
Description: Incorporated in March of this year, Farm and Forest Growers Cooperative (F&FG) is a network of small farms and nurseries growing climate-adaptive tree seedlings, which are sold to reforestation agencies and individuals with the goal of creating resilient forest resources. Working with UMD and UMN Northeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, F&FG Cooperative gathers and plants tree seeds genetically adapted to the warmer regions of southern and central Minnesota, for planting in Minnesota’s northern forests. The cooperative is working on a fast moving and expanding project to build the farmer-based production “supply chain” of climate-adaptive tree seedlings. This grant will better position the cooperative with the tools, skills, information, products, and business plan needed to build their organizational foundation.
Award amount: $20,000
Location: Sandstone, Minn.
40 Acre Cooperative is focused on creating access and opportunities for historically marginalized farmers in Minnesota and the surrounding region and that builds climate resilience through operational support for specialty crops. Grant funds will be used for a market assessment and specialty crop business planning.
“With the support of the Minnesota Farmers Union Foundation, we can create more inclusive and equitable business planning solutions that advance systems change and mitigate the effects of climate change.” – Angela Dawson