The Future is Cooperative

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October 18, 2024

The Future is Cooperative: Food Co-ops and Their Role in the Local Food System

October is National Co-op Month. This year’s theme, “The Future is Cooperative,” is a reminder that co-ops are not only stores or buying clubs—they are community-powered organizations that prioritize local connections, education, and sustainable food systems.

Over the years we’ve experienced firsthand the power of food co-ops, stores that are owned and operated by their members. We partner with multiple co-ops in the region, and more are on the horizon. Each co-op purchases a unique set of products from our farm that suit and serve their community best. We serve the co-ops through weekly deliveries, and connect often through personal meetings, farm tours, and informative newsletters.

The Dill Pickle Co-op in Logan Square, IL and the Purple Porch Co-op in South Bend, IN were two of our first co-op connections made over 15 years ago. Each co-op we work with has grown exponentially since their first days of creation, from kindling ideas and organized meetings to fully staffed and functional buildings open 7 days a week.

You can find a full list of our retail connections including the community food co-ops here: https://jakescountrymeats.com/...

Why We Work with Co-ops

What makes food co-ops stand out to us is their personal investment. Managers and buyers in co-ops take a level of ownership in their roles. They get to know us as farmers, learn about our practices, and understand why we raise animals the way we do. That knowledge is passed onto their customers, building a deeper connection to the food on their shelves.

We welcome co-op buyers to the farm, to see firsthand what we do as farmers, and to encourage connections with other co-op members around the region. These direct relationships help maintain the integrity of the story behind the food we produce, and builds a resilient food supply.

We are able to see how co-ops act as educators, helping consumers understand the value of sustainable, pasture-raised meats and local wild-caught fish. Food co-ops host events, publish newsletters, and lead discussions that empower their communities to make informed choices. This commitment to education doesn’t just benefit consumers—it strengthens the local food system as a whole by ensuring people know where their food comes from and why it matters.

The History of Cooperation

The cooperative movement has deep roots in farming. Going back to colonial times, American farmers began banding together to help each other. Whether through co-ops for buying essential supplies like feed or seeds, or marketing co-ops to sell goods at better prices, these early efforts were all about working together for mutual benefit. They provided essential services, like processing cheese or storing grain, that a single farmer might struggle to do alone.

That same spirit of cooperation is still alive today with food co-ops, and have evolved into educational hubs to bridge the gap between local farmers and the people who love fresh, wholesome food.

Building the Future, Together

Looking ahead, co-ops are positioned to play an even bigger role in the future of farming. As more people become invested in the sustainability of their food, co-ops are rising to meet the demand for transparency and local sourcing. There are more food co-ops opening in our area within the next two years, and we couldn’t be more excited to expand our relationships with these community-owned businesses.

By working with food co-ops, we’re building partnerships that support local farmers, educate consumers, and strengthen the connection between people and the land.

What 7 generations of Farming Teaches Us...

Earlier this month, we welcomed the Cass County Historical Society to our farm for their September event and meeting. We gathered together to talk about the history of our farm, seven generations of agriculture, and all the ways farming has changed along the way. Then we loaded everyone onto hay wagons and headed out to see what farming here looks like today. It was an evening about history, but the conversation felt just as relevant to the future. Because the story of how agriculture has changed is also part of the story of how we all buy food today. Walk through a grocery store and there are plenty of labels trying to help you decide what to buy. Natural. Local. Grass-fed. Pasture-raised. Sustainable. Premium. You can spend a lot of time reading packages and researching claims and still wonder what any of it actually looked like on the farm. That's one reason we believe knowing where your food comes from, and knowing the people who raised it, matters. Our Farm Changed, Too Generations ago, farms in this area were diversified because they needed to be. Livestock, crops, gardens and families existed together on the same piece of ground. Animals provided fertility for the soil, crops fed animals and people, and farms relied heavily on what they could produce themselves and on the communities surrounding them. As agriculture changed, farms became larger and more specialized. Livestock increasingly moved into confinement, and farmers became more dependent on commodity systems where they could be very efficient at raising something while having very little control over what they were paid for it. Our family lived that story. We raised hogs in confinement and sold into the commodity market. When hog prices collapsed in the late 1990s, our family had to take a hard look at whether that system could provide a future for our farm. Instead of getting bigger, we eventually chose a different direction: downsizing, diversifying and getting closer to the people actually eating the food we raised. Animals moved back outside. Pigs returned to pastures and woodlands. Cattle and sheep became part of our grazing system. Chickens and turkeys moved across pasture. We began thinking more intentionally about the relationship between soil, plants, animals and people, while building our own market to sell our food directly to you. What Does That Have to Do With Your Dinner? Quite a bit, actually. If you're trying to feed your family well, there's an overwhelming amount of information telling you what you should and shouldn't buy. One of the things a direct relationship with a farmer can offer is something much simpler: a source you can actually know. You can ask us what our pigs eat, how our cattle are raised, where our animals are processed or why we make a particular farming decision. You can visit the farm, see our animals and pastures, meet our family and employees, and follow along throughout the year. When you have questions, there's a real person on the other side of them. To us, that's one of the most valuable things about local food. "Local" shouldn't only mean that something traveled fewer miles. It can also mean accountability, transparency and a relationship with the people responsible for raising your food. We Aren't Trying to Farm in the Past After our talk, we headed outside to see some of these ideas in practice. We talked about grazing, livestock, soil and pasture, and we visited some baby pigs that held everyone's attention more than any story we could tell. Some of what we do today probably looks familiar to farmers from generations ago, but we're not trying to recreate the past. We use electric fencing, portable watering systems, tractors, refrigeration, USDA-inspected processing, delivery trucks, inventory software and online ordering. We're combining principles that have worked for generations with the tools and knowledge available to us today. That's part of agriculture. Farmers have to adapt. The question for us isn't how to make farming look like it did 100 years ago. It's how to take care of our land, raise animals well, produce really great food and build a farm economically strong enough to still be here 100 years from now. Strong Farms. Strong Communities. There's a lot of conversation about supporting the American farmer. When you choose to buy directly from us, you help create a market for farmers who want to do things differently. Those dollars help keep farmland in regenerative agriculture, employ local people, support processors and other small businesses. You help build strong communities, and maybe even more importantly with the average age of the American farmer on the rise each year, you give another generation a reason to believe farming can still provide a living. A Strong farm gives you an option. One that you trust to nourish you well. One that you trust to provide food that tastes incredible. One that you trust will consistently serve you. One that you trust to take care of the animals and land with respect. A strong farm gives its community a better way to feed itself, and a strong community gives its farms enough support to keep farming. Seven generations ago, our family couldn't have imagined what this farm would look like in 2026. We can't know what it will look like seven generations from now either. But we hope the people living here will still have the choice to know where some of their food comes from, to ask questions about how it was raised, and to know the farmer responsible for raising it. Thank you to the Cass County Historical Society for giving us an opportunity to look back at where agriculture has been and think about where it's headed. And thank you to every one of you who chooses to be part of what comes next. Strong Farms. Strong Communities.Real Food. Rooted Living. Renee & the Jake's Country Meats family

Beef In The News

There has been a lot of beef in the news lately. Beef prices are high, cattle numbers are low, and now there is talk about bringing in more imported beef at a discount to help combat prices for consumers. Then, almost in the same breath, there are announcements aimed at helping American farmers and ranchers by addressing some of the processing and market-access challenges we face. Despite what feels like whiplash, anything in the news today - will take it's effect on American farmers overtime, and the outcomes of these decisions will all be determined in due time. So what do these current events mean for our small family farm? And what can you actually do to help American farmers?

Create Your Own Job...

That’s exactly what my parents instilled in us kids growing up on the farm, among many other things. But this one…this one really stuck with me. And I bought into it a little too far, I’ll admit some days, and created a job with responsibility much bigger than I ever dreamed.

The Future is Cooperative