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From Brown Rice to Biofuels 163
Members of the Black Star Co- op Pub & Brewery, for example,
will receive a patronage rebate each year that the pub operates
in the black, the exact percentage to be decided annually by the
board. Members participate in the management of the pub by
electing board members, attending membership meetings, and
bringing concerns and ideas before the board. (While the board
sets overall policy, day- to- day operations are run by the Workers’
Assembly, a body made up of employees who have completed
a one- year apprenticeship period. The Workers’ Assembly
elects a liaison to the board of directors.) Black Star plans to set
aside a small portion of its surplus revenue to create an educational
fund to teach people about craft beer and cooperatives.
And, demonstrating the principle of supporting other co- ops, the
Wheatsville Food Co- op generously invested $50,000 in Black Star.
The spirit of community support is a strong part of the cooperative
ethos. In New Mexico, the La Montanita Food Co- op,
which has grown from one store in Albuquerque in 1976 to four
stores in the area and 14,000 members, has been working to
strengthen the local foodshed. Most of New Mexico’s 20,000 farms
and ranches export their products, from cattle to pecans to chiles.
Just 3 percent of food grown in the state is consumed by its residents.
At the same time, 17 percent of New Mexican households
and a quarter of New Mexican children are food insecure, meaning
they are not sure where their next meal will come from.
La Montanita has helped establish a local distribution infrastructure,
making its delivery trucks and refrigerated storage
available to producers. It has also lent out more than $40,000 to
farmers and suppliers in “prepayment” loans in recent years. The
demand for such loans is more than it can address on its own. Yet
loans to small farmers, value- added food enterprises, and startups
are considered high risk by banks, especially in an area without
a strong local banking network. So in 2010, the co- op created the
La Montanita Fund, or LAM Fund, which provides collateral for
farmers, ranchers, and other producers so that they can obtain
bank loans. La Montanita’s goal is to raise $100,000 for the LAM
Fund through investments by the co- op as well as individual members,
who can buy “interests” of $250. The funds will be deposited