20 member-owners attend, 4 Board Members (Mark, Susan, Barbara, Kent) and GMs (Scott and Maryanne) Meeting began at 6:30pm with Mark introducing himself and giving the member-owners a backdrop for the discussion. He provided information on the land being considered…
- it is the land that was previously considered by Walmart,
- it is 75 acres of which 1/3 of it is open and the rest is wooded,
- Maine Farm Land trust plans to buy the land and sell it at a reduced price with a farm easement
- DRA would manage the easement,
- if RT bought it, the plan would be not to incur more debt,
- RT could use it to supply local crops currently not available in the store and also for education purposes.
The reason that RT is considering the project is that we see the potential for it to address some of our Ends policies specifically: 1) contributing to a thriving local economy, 2) offering a diverse mix of products to feed and nurture our community, 3) providing a foundation for building a sustainable bio-regional food system, and 4) informing and educating our community.
We have been working on gathering information about the details of what such an undertaking might involve and asking the following questions:
Ø Could we do this without risking the financial position of our core endeavor (the store)?
Ø Are there legal considerations that we need advice about?
Ø Have other co-ops undertaken similar ventures? And what have they learned?
Ø What might a model for such an endeavor here look like?
Ø How would we ensure that we are not undermining other local farmers and suppliers?
Ø Is there community support for such an undertaking?
Ø Does Rising Tide have the capacity to take on such an endeavor at this point in time?
We are still in the midst of considering these questions, but the intent of this meeting is to listen to the thoughts and ideas of our member-owners.
Open discussion Comments:
The timing is right and appropriate. But, for members to feel comfortable about the Board making this decision there needs to be a 5 year Pro forma plan with very hard data. The number 1 priority should be to find the right experienced person to be the Farm Manager and to include that person in the planning.
RT should try to get an agreement for an option to buy while it develops its’ plans.
A question was raised regarding how many people in the community are really interested in education
A question was raised regarding whether this was the only land being considered. Susan responded that while we are talking about a specific piece of property, we would like member input as it relates to this or other property.
Could we rent the property to an existing farmer?
Since we still have not finished the 2nd floor, should we put our energy on that rather than on another big project?
A question was raised about what we have learned about other co-ops that may have done something similar. Scott described 3 other co-ops (PCC Seattle, The Wedge in Minneapolis and Weavers Way in Philly) that have purchased or been given land and how they are using it.
Scott mentioned that there is $100,000,000 spent on food each year in Lincoln County
Maryanne stressed the education potential
If all you were going to do is farm, there are much better choices for farmland. The advantages of the property are the visibility and marketing potential. Don’t even think about this piece of land if you just want to use it for farming.
How about considering setting aside some land for schools to have students use for their own vegetable garden?
What restrictions will be on the easement – could we have a farm kitchen? Restaurant? Bar? Retail? Housing for the farmer? In response, it was mentioned that the DRA easement has not been drafted yet and perhaps we could work with them on it.
How will we use the forested property? Mark commented that although he was not speaking for the Board, he has his own thoughts regarding possible uses – trees could possible provide heat for wood stoves in green houses. Haas commented that the forest could be used to grow Mushrooms.
The question was asked regarding if the wooded land had ever been used for farming. Scott responded that the woods were last harvested about 30 years ago and are mostly hardwoods.
Concern was expressed regarding the time and energy that this would require of both the staff and the Board and whether the timing was right with the new store still in its infancy.
Should we consider alternatives such as share cropping – e.g. the farmer works for RT for 50% of the crop.
Questions regarding the soil came up and Haas indicated that it might take years to build the soil back up but there are ways to do it and ways to farm so as not to deplete the soil.
Question regarding whether there could be grant money to help.
Question regarding existing farmer investigation of the land and their response? What is the sense of potential?
Scott reemphasized the potential market of $30,000 per week spent on winter greens at all grocery stores in Lincoln County ($1200/week at RT currently) and that these items could be grown here in Lincoln County as opposed to California.
Question about working with existing farmers instead to have them grow what we need. Scott indicated that they have worked with a few farmers to grow what they needed but it has not worked out.
Need to investigate more to understand what the local farmers can do, what they need to do more – maybe raising $25-50K each for a dozen farmers could get us what we need.
It was suggested because of Eliot Coleman’s recent work, we are probably just beginning to see the efforts on greenhouse growing in winter.
If you say you are doing it, people will support it
Maybe we should consider moving the Farmers market to the route 1 location and using the DRA land for farming
Might be grant money available for growing winter crops w/o heat
Maybe we should think about a different model – instead of buying the land we could have a cooperative arrangement with the farmer.
It was mentioned that Maine Farm Land trust plans to spend $50 million to preserve 100,000 acres of farmland in Maine.
Land for Good from VT & NH is expanding into Maine – they buy land and provide to farmers – they train farmers…. suggestion that we investigate.
It was brought up that with the recent S&P concerns about the debt rating of the USA, the dollar could be further devalued and as a result food prices would rise dramatically
Samuel Kaymen volunteered to be part of an action committee that would evaluate the opportunity
Suggestion that we take a look at the standard easements to see what the restrictions look like.
Questions arose as to how member-owners can be kept informed – Mark suggested that they can attend Board meetings. In addition, a request was made to provide updated info on the website.
Meeting concluded at 7:40pm
