We do not anticipate adding any new growers to the cooperative during the 2010 growing season. Please contact us and let us know you are interested, and keep in touch. The local food market is growing, and we hope to increase our membership again in the future.

GROWN Locally is always interested in talking to growers and producers about joining in our efforts to provide high quality farm products to NE Iowa. Whether you are a large or small operation, a new grower or have been growing for years, we have growers of all sizes and can accomodate almost everyone; the co-op is a great way to market your products.

As a first step we would like to introduce you to GROWN Locally, our philosophy, and the way we do business. We are a cooperative of Northeast Iowa farms and food producers, mostly in Allamakee and Winnesheik Counties, but we also have members in Howard, Clayton, and Fayette Counties. Many of our members also market products through local farmers markets, and other means.

GROWN Locally was formed as a way to provide locally raised food to our 5 county area. We are devoted to the concept that fresh, high quality food should be available to everyone at a reasonable cost. And, we are avid proponents of sustainable agriculture as a way to provide that food while allowing the farmers to make a decent living and diversify the income from their farms. Some of the farms are certified organic, while others are not. The non-organic farms agree to raise their crops with the absolute minimum of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and most do not use any. The Cooperative is not certified as an organic handler and does not sell any product as ‘organic’.

We expect our members to be active in the operation and administration of the cooperative as a way to keep our overhead costs under control. The Board of Directors and all committee persons are volunteers. We have a paid Coordinator, who handles much of the marketing and logistics, and a paid delivery service to distribute products to our customers. The Coop conducts monthly business meetings, generally on evening of the second Tuesday of the month.

Members are given one year as a probationary member to decide if they want to continue in the cooperative. At the end of that year they are asked to buy into the cooperative with the purchase of a $100 membership share. The share is not refundable nor transferable to another person without the approval of the Board of Directors, but does entitle the holder to a share of any dividends disbursed by the coop.

We currently deliver products on two days of each week. Each producer is required to ‘upload’ their expected harvest to our web store inventory about 5 days prior to harvest to allow customers to place their orders. The orders are processed and the producers are told how much of their product is required for each delivery day. Produce is delivered to a central packing station the day before delivery, and must be cleaned, sanitized and packaged (bagged or boxed) by the producer. Packaging and sanitizing supplies are provided by the Coop, but the labor must be supplied by the producer. Some long-life products (e.g. potatoes) can be uploaded to inventory once and delivered over several weeks. We currently do not have any storage facilities, so all storage is the responsibility of the producer(s).

We sell to institutions and the selling price on some large institutional orders may be negotiated at a lower rate than the standard price. Prices are generally set prior to the season by general consensus of those producers supplying each crop, but adjustments can be made throughout the season to better reflect supply and demand. The cooperative retains 20% of the selling price to cover overhead. All billing and collection is handled through the cooperative and producers are paid twice a month.

We have been enjoying an increase in the amount of produce we sell to institutions the past couple years and are interested in finding growers who can produce large amounts of a few crops. We don't require growers to be certified organic, but we do have sustainability and safety standards that we require our growers to follow. Each grower must pass an annual inspection of their operation conducted by cooperative members. Growers must be able to provide their product in institutional case size lots, and are expected to clean, sanitize and package the product in industry standard packaging. Packaging that can be re-used is provided by the cooperative, non-returnable packaging (tomato boxes, box liners, clamshells, etc.) must be purchased by the producer. The cooperative supplies cleaning supplies and packaging matierials at cost to members.

If you are interested in trying to market your produce through us, please download our membership questionaire, fill it in, and send it back to us, or contact the Membership Committee for more information .