From the Board of Directors

Member Participation In Our Co-op — By Martha Hotchkiss, HPC Board Chair

At the April Hampden Park Co-op board meeting, attended by about 45 members, the board of directors voted on broad changes to both the

volunteer program and the discount structure.

The board authorized our general manager to budget for discounts as no more than 2% of annual gross sales. In this way we can plan for how much of an expense that discounts will be, which is something HPC has never been able to do when there was no cap on discounts.

In addition, the board voted to end the volunteer program, because we could draw no other conclusion than that it is illegal. We did this after months of conversation with members, extensive research, obtaining a legal opinion, and consulting other co-ops, all in hopes of finding a middle way that both allowed in-store volunteers and complied with wage and hour laws. The latter proved to be too risky, so the board asked that the general manager make available a sustainable number of member-worker positions that would be paid minimum wage. That’s one part of the middle way.

Another part of a middle way is to find a space for members to work together toward a shared goal in alignment with Hampden Park Co-op’s mission and cooperative principles. In member talking circles, what the conversation circled back to again and again was a sense that by working shoulder to shoulder, they had formed meaningful connections with other members of HPC, which in turn made their shopping trips more than just another trip to the store.

Finding a way for members to work together has taken root in the idea of an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) Friends of Hampden Park Co-op. In keeping with cooperative principles, this nonprofit would reach out to the community and be responsive to its needs. Motivated members

have already posited the creation of a shopping service for neighbors in need, and formation of a farmers’ market in the park across the street from HPC. In order to maintain legality, the board of directors of Hampden Park Co-op cannot form this nonprofit, which is why we’re excited to see HPC members take this idea and run with it.

Another way for members to serve the community is by serving on the Hampden Park Co-op Board of Directors. It is a Policy Governance™ board, meaning that we govern by maintaining right relationships between members, board, management, and staff, as set out for us in the HPC bylaws and policy manual. Our board of nine rotates off two or three directors each year, electing directors for three-year terms. Our current board includes people from a wide range of professions and skill sets, and we’ve had community organizers and teachers, nurses and attorneys, architects and engineers, techies and financial planners, to name a few. Please consider how you or someone you know might be a good candidate to serve on the board.

Come to a board meeting and see what’s going on! We meet at 6 pm. in the co-op meeting space on the last Thursday of the month. Contact us at board@hampdenpark.coop

Read On! In This Issue:Powerful Choices On Our Plates

Cooperative Principle #3 • Food for the Future

Potluck Picnic Announcement

Soup Punch Card • Owner Discount Card

Member Newsletter • June/July 2016 • Volume 28, Issue 3

June/July 2016 2

June/July 2016 3

Principle 3: MemberEconomic Participation —By Joe Kruse, Membership Coordinator

I f Sir Francis was right, then our country’s economy is a useless pile of manure. According

to a report put out last year by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the richest one percent of our population owns about one third of our country’s net worth. The top 20 percent owns 90 percent of our of country’s wealth. And their wealth has a price. The poorest 40 percent literally owns none of our country’s wealth, or they own an “overall negative net worth, which means that they owe more money than they own—and they probably owe that money to somebody in that top five or 10 percent.” 1

I often read articles about American wealth inequality and feel an intellectual anger at the sheer backwardness of an economy built in this way. What I often don’t (and can’t) comprehend, because of the socioeconomic privilege into which I was born, is the raw human pain behind these numbers.

I have to make an added effort to sit with the reality of our violent economy. These disparities create real emotional and physical trauma that scars families for generations. I’ll never know what it’s like to sleep

outside through a Minnesota winter. I’ll never know what it’s like to carry the pain of hunger. I’ll never know what it’s like to constantly worry about fulfilling my most basic needs.

Once again, cooperative economics offers a necessary paradigm shift in how we think about wealth. The third cooperative principle is Member Economic Participation. The International Cooperative Alliance describes this principle as follows: “Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative.”2 This means that the community that owns a cooperative decides collectively how to use the wealth generated through the enterprise.

Unlike the corporate heads and CEOs who account for a majority of America’s 1% and who undemocratically dictate the flow of much of our nation’s capital, those who own a cooperative decide communally how their profit should be used. This radical shift in control of wealth challenges a system in which the wealthiest Americans continue to unilaterally control the vast majority of the capital our economy generates. A cooperative spreads the control of wealth around so that it benefits people equitably, so that it grows our economy from the bottom and middle out, and so it doesn’t pile high, stinky, and fallow in some billionaire’s pocket.

References:

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/21/the-top-10-of-americans-own-76-of-the-stuff-and-its-dragging-our-economy-down/

2. http://ica.coop/en/whats-co-op/co-operative-identity-values-principles

“Money is like

manure; of very

little use except it

be spread.”

—Sir Francis Bacon

June/July 2016 4

Powerful Choices On Our Plates— By Christina Nicholson, General Manager

A ccording to journalist Barry Estabrook, author of 2015’s Pig Tales: An Omnivore’s Quest for Sustainable Meat, on average a pig has

the same capacity of reason as a three-year-old human. That is why he determined that he wanted to understand the way that one of his favorite edibles is raised in the United States.

What he uncovered was startling. Barry visited a pig farmer in Iowa who, on his farm alone, raises 150,000 pigs a year in 40 confinement barns. One barn alone contained 1500 pigs. These pigs live their lives in metal cages so small that they cannot even turn around. Their sides press out through the bars. The air is filled with ammonia. They are provided constant low-level antibiotics to prevent illness in these confines. Their waste is passed through their cages and through bars in the floor to a giant manure pit below, where eventually it is pumped out to a “lagoon” on the land where the waste is collected along with the waste from the other barns. According to Estabrook, this is the way that 97% of the pork in this country is produced. These animals never see the light of day.

In addition to the life cost of the pigs raised in captivity, there are human and environmental impacts as well. In his book, Estrabrook reports on the diminished lung capacity of the workers who are exposed to the ammoniated air of the barns day after day. Besides fits of coughing and an increased likelihood of developing asthma, people who work in confinement buildings are exposed to antibioticresistant bacteria.

Estabrook quotes a study done in Iowa that compared two groups of pig farm workers. One group worked on farms that used antibiotics, and the other group worked on farms that did not. Every one of the workers who worked in the antibiotic-using environments was found to be carrying a bacteria called MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is a kind of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that is difficult to treat, and can be life threatening. By comparison, on the farms that did not use antibiotics, none of the workers tested positive for this bacteria.

On the retail side, there is the reality that the typical pork found in supermarkets not only tests positive for antibiotics, but for MRSA and other resistant bacteria as well. While it can be cooked out of the meat when properly handled, MRSA can also be carried through the air. So, while the end product may be able to be handled in a way that kills the bacteria, the farms and surrounding communities where these CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) operate are exposed.

Contrast that with two of Hampden Park Co-op’s Minnesota pork producers—Fox Farms in Browerville and Beaver Creek Farms in Mora. Lawrence Fox stated it plainly: “We do not use any animal byproducts in the feed. The hogs are never on concrete or slatted pits....Every animal has access to direct sunlight, and sows have open access to the outdoors. We do not use stalls for gestations or farrowing....[They] have never been given antibiotics of any kind; have never been given added hormones or artificial growth promotants; have been fed all-vegetarian diets....”1

Dale and Barbara Barnick of Beaver Creek Farms explain their farming philosophy this way: “We offer what we call ‘Salad Bar Meats.’ This is a term coined by Joel Salatin, of Staunton, Virginia, who has been refining and teaching this proven farm production model since the late 1960s. The ‘salad bar’ that these animals eat includes a fresh variety of legumes, herbs, and weeds on a daily basis. This type of pastured animal, because they eat high amounts of fresh forage, can be clinically shown to be far lower in saturated fats than conventionally produced meat. Raised without the negatives of high stress, subtherapeutic antibiotics, steroids, fecal air, and artificial light; and with the positives of probiotics, kelp meal, natural vitamins, fresh air and sunshine, clean pasture paddocks, and in small groups—pastured animals offer a completely different meat to you, the consumer.”2

Here at HPC, as we honor our historic roots and think about our future in a marketplace that is increasingly greenwashed and competitive, we find ourselves in this discussion a lot. Many of us have kids at home

June/July 2016 5

and a seemingly endless demand on our time and our money. So, how do we prioritize, and where can we come up for air long enough to examine our choices and take steps to move the world closer to the fair, transparent, healthy world we all want to live in? The longer I work here, the more I appreciate the human scale that we offer both in terms of our products and our relationships. It isn’t a brand or a tag line to say that things here are local. We open our back door and receive deliveries directly from Fox Farm and Beaver Creek weekly. A co-op the size of Hampden Park can do just that.

We are a doorway for farmers in the community, just as we are a doorway to local products for all of you. It is such a huge gift to see these difficult issues in our food system and to work in an organization that serves as a way out of the broken system. We offer a bright, friendly, small place to find good food, great service and an open invitation towards healing for our families and our communities. We look forward to growing towards health and wholeness together for many years to come.

References:

1.http://dairylandpeach.com/2013/01/28/pork-raised-old-fashioned-way-winning-awards-for-fox-farm-near-browerville/

2. http://simplegoodandtasty.com/directory/beaver-creek-farm

Mayfest was a bloomin’ success

thanks to our volunteers & shoppers!

June/July 2016 6

Food for the Future— By Naomi Jackson

One of the scariest TV ads I ever saw depicted a business woman sitting at her desk

chewing on a large stalk of broccoli and looking frustrated. In essence, the message was, “Do you know how much broccoli you’d have to eat to get enough fiber in your diet? You don’t have time for that. You’re a busy person. Try this pill instead. It provides 100 percent of your daily fiber requirements.”

Why eat broccoli when you can pop a pill?

Why pop a pill when you can eat broccoli?

The majority of the food that the majority of Americans eat is processed food made from just a few commodity crops such as corn, soybeans, rice, sugar beets, and wheat. A commodity crop is one that can be grown in large quantities, is easily stored, and lasts a long time. They used to be called “cash crops” because they were something that farmers could sell for cash, as opposed to the crops they raised to feed their families. The US

government actively supports the growing of commodity crops, and most of our farm land is devoted to them.

But what about blackberries, beets, broccoli, apricots, watermelon? They are harder to grow in large quantities, cost more to store, and are highly perishable. Corporations and governments are reluctant to put a lot of money into risky crops, although this is changing as consumer demand for organic foods increases.

In the short term, this makes sense. From any government’s perspective, if you have masses of hungry people to feed, it is cheaper and easier to feed them products made of corn and soybeans, Jetson-style, than to make sure they have heirloom apples and root crops.

In the long term, preserving a wide variety of food crops helps ensure our food supply, whatever a changing climate tosses our way. That’s the purpose of seed and plant banks. If one variety of lentils doesn’t do well in a drier climate, there are dozens of varieties stored in seed banks that will do better. If disease wipes out all the commercial strawberries, there are disease-resistant varieties at plant banks. At least for now.

Unfortunately, humans have a hard time planning for a distant future. We’re not wired for it. That’s why seed and plant banks, committed to preserving the vast numbers of foods available to humans for future generations, have such a hard time staying solvent. Or even staying in existence. They are constantly at risk from war, government indifference or incompetence, and development.

One of the most important plant banks in the world, the Pavlovsk Research Station near St. Petersburg, Russia, has been threatened by all three.

A plant bank offers something that seed banks can’t. Many plant species can’t be stored for long, or even at all, as seeds. Some, like apples, don’t breed true when grown from seed. Thus there is a great need for locations where these species can be planted and kept alive. On its 1200 acres the Pavlovsk Research Station hosts a vast collection of fruit trees and shrubs, 90 percent of which can’t be found in any other scientific collection in the world. Plant breeders around the world rely on this collection as a source of genetic diversity for disease-resistant and climate-adapted fruit varieties.

The PRS grew out of the work of

Library of CongressGlobal Crop Diversity Trust Global Crop Diversity Trust

June/July 2016 7

Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov. Beginning in 1920, Vavilov traveled around the world collecting fruits and berries. He started seed banks across Russia, discovered that Kazakhstan was the original home of most European fruit trees, and identified what are now called Vavilov Centers, hot spots of botanical diversity. Most of the world’s domestic crops are believed to have originated in these eight mountainous locations.

Some of Vavilov’s most important research involved genetics and agronomy, the application of genetics to the cultivation of food plants. It was this interest in genetics that ended his career. One of Stalin’s cronies was a quack scientist who had started a campaign against Mendelian genetics. Vavilov was accused of crimes against the state and sent to a gulag, where he died of starvation in 1943.

The PRS almost didn’t survive this time of political turmoil and world war. The scientists who remained there, working in a time of severe food shortage, sacrificed their lives to preserve Pavlovsk’s collections. They could have eaten the seeds so carefully collected from around the world, but they refused and, like Vavilov, starved to death trying to improve the world’s food supply.

In 2010, the Pavlovsk ResearchStation was almost lost to urban development. It is located in an upscale St. Petersburg suburb, where land is highly sought after. The Russian government allows developers to buy up abandoned land—the PRS certainly looks

abandoned after decades of underfunding and government neglect. When the director of PRS objected to this land grab, a government official told him, “Go to sleep. Just go to sleep. We are taking the land.” (Fred Pearce, “New Hope for Pavlovsk Station”)

The director didn’t go to sleep. Instead he notified scientists and seed banks around the world. The international outcry led to a “Tweet Medvedev” campaign. President Medvedev relented and issued a

decree “...assigning these lands to areas for the purpose of agriculture.”The future of Pavlovsk Research Station is still at risk, as President Putin eyes its shabby buildings and weedy orchards and thinks “upscale development.” It is important that none of us go to sleep, but stay informed. Plant and seed banks contain genetic information that is essential to our survival, plus the possibility of thousands of delicious foods that are much more fun to eat than fiber pills.

References:

1. Blackwell, Elise. “In Situ: The Priceless Plants of the Pavlovsk Experimental Station,” The Atlantic, August 13, 2010. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/08/-em-in-situ-em-the-priceless-plants-of-the-pavlovsk-experimental-station/61466/

2. Greene, David. “Researchers Fight to Save Fruits of Their Labor,” Minnesota Public Radio, August 30, 2010. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129499099

3. Hummer, Kim E. and John F. Hancock. “Vavilovian Centers of Plant Diversity: Implications and Impacts,” HortScience, June 2015. https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pdfs/780.full.pdf

4. Klevantseva, Tatyana. “Prominent Russians: Nikolay Vavilov,” Russiapedia. http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/science-and-technology/nikolay-vavilov/

5. Pearce, Fred. “New Hope for Pavlovsk Station and Russia’s Rare Plant Reserve,” e360, Sep-tember 2010. http://e360.yale.edu/feature/new_hope_for_pavlovsk_station_and_russias_

In the long term,

preserving a wide

variety of food crops

helps ensure our food

supply, whatever a

changing climate

tosses our way.

Good for 10% OFF

one shopping trip!

Member Only Coupon

Excludes non-discountable items.

Date:

Member #:

Purchase Amt:

Discount Amt:

Expires Aug. 31, 2016.

Cannot be combined with other discounts.

1 s o u p o r s a l a d = 1 p u n c h

FREE 8 oz

Free Soup Punch Card

Expires Aug. 31, 2016. One card per customer.

(You don’t have to be a member, anyone may redeem.) (A member-only benefit.)

It pays to read the newsletter!

Board of DirectorsMartha Hotchkiss, Board Chair Deann Lindstrom, Vice-Chair Rachel Fang, Secretary Lucia Cowles, Treasurer Mark Chapin Lynn Englund Paul Hannemann Marcia Hanson Matt Hass, Staff Rep

Board meets the last Tuesday of each month 6:00–8:00 pm. Dates and location are posted in the entryway. Contact us if you’d like to attend: board@hampdenpark.coop.

Staff ContactsChristina Nicholson, General Manager Marcia Hanson, Asst. General Manager Joe Kruse, Membership Coordinator Naomi Jackson, Copy Editor

Newsletter Contributors Christine DeMars Martha HotchkissNaomi JacksonJoe KruseChristina NicholsonJoy RustPrinting by Fox Ridge Printing Our Mission is to serve both the member-owners and the community by promoting wholesome, healthful and ecologically-sound food consumption, with the involvement of our members in the food selection and in the operation of the co-op.

Membership: Anyone is welcome to shop at HPC, and we invite everyone to join! Membership involves a one-time purchase of one share of stock per household. The cost is $30. Stockholders currently receive a quarterly 10% discount, and may be eligible for dividends at the end of each fiscal year based on the profitability of the co-op. Members may sell back their shares at any time.

In order to meet the needs of a wide variety of shoppers, some items are already set at an everyday low price and are not eligible for further discounts.

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Twin CitiesAikido CenterNow celebrating our 40th year in the Midway!

Come up to observe (or join in) a class. Special to HPC

members: 3 months of training at ½ price! Just bring in this ad. Visit our website for events and classes: www.tcaikido.com.

Community roots. Cooperative values. Completely delicious.

Let us know if you’re

moving—or tell us what

you think! Email us at

info@hampdenpark.coop.

Hampden Park Co-op supports our local food shelf. Ask at the register how you can contribute!