Are you interested in starting a statewide multi-stakeholder cooperative focused on storage and distribution of local food?
If so please attend our next community conversation Sat Jan 13, 2024 at 11:30 am
Alaska Food Co-op community conversation
Saturday, January 13, 2024 · 11:30am – 12:30pm
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/rvo-vduv-wat
If you have questions please contact Joel Cladouhos at joel@sustainak.com
Food security is possible. Not so long ago Alaskans were food secure. Alaskan Natives subsisted off what nature provided, on land and in the ocean. Indigenous cultures can teach us a lot about food security, and can inspire us to achieve it!
To achieve food security we need a common goal. That goal could be to flip the import-production ratio. Rather than import 95% and produce only 5%, Alaskans could embark on a shared mission to import only 5% of our food and produce 95% within the state.
In order to make progress toward such a goal we would need infrastructure to store and distribute the additional food grown and produced in Alaska. It’s a chicken and egg problem: we cannot produce more food without a place to store it, and we don’t need more storage until we can grow and produce it. We need a model where storage and distribution can grow in parallel with production.
One piece of the solution is a statewide multi-stakeholder co-op with an emphasis on storage and distribution of local food. Members of the co-op could include Alaskans who grow, catch, harvest, produce, store, distribute, sell, buy or eat local food and adhere to the seven cooperative principles. Buy-in, alignment and collaboration are achieved through a multi-stakeholder cooperative because all members have equal ownership and voting rights, and profit is distributed to its members.
The goal is to co-design and co-create an Alaska Food Co-op focused on storage and distribution of local foods.
ALASKA FOOD CO-OP 