Only individuals (not businesses, organizations, or groups of people) can own shares, and each individual is limited to a total of 10 shares, regardless of the class of share. However, members of the same household are eligible to own 10 shares each. For example, a married couple could each purchase 10 shares, for a total of 20 shares/votes for their household. An individual can also invest in different classes of shares, but the total number of shares owned cannot exceed 10. This ensures that no one individual controls the business, keeping it a truly cooperative enterprise. Also note that any adult in the United States can become an owner of the cooperative.

Every share purchased is associated with one vote, and all shareholders have the opportunity to be elected to our Board of Directors at our annual Meeting of Owners. All shareholders will be included in all shareholder communications and invited to all owner meetings. However, shareholders have the right but not the obligation to participate in the cooperative's decision making. This means they can take on as much responsibility as being a board member (which does bear specific obligations) or as little as never voting or attending meetings. You, as an owner of the cooperative, can make of it what you wish.

The main difference between preferred and common stock is that preferred stock is associated with an interest rate of 4% payable annually until repayment of principal, while common stock is associated only with consideration for dividend payments when available. All decisions regarding payment of dividends to shareholders are at the discretion of the Board of Directors. There is no principal repayment of common stock.

Interest on preferred stock will begin to accrue when the co-op commences business operations (i.e., has its grand opening; likely summer/fall 2022) and will be paid annually as long as the co-op is financially capable of doing so. Principal payoffs are at the Board’s discretion (and with the intention of paying off within 5–10 years). After repayment of principal and accumulated interest, each share is converted to Common A stock.

The short answer is: Absolutely not. Our cooperative will not have a retail store at all. In fact, FarmFED Co-op is designed to partner with and support Market on the Hill (MOTH) in Mt. Pulaski in two concrete ways: 1) When we are operational and begin processing and freezing local produce, we can pack not just larger units for big buyers like schools and hospitals, but also smaller retail packs suitable for the freezer section at your favorite grocery store. MOTH is literally a one-minute drive from our proposed facility site, giving them the best access possible and helping them fulfill their mission to offer nutritious, local staple foods to their customers. 2) Our hope is also that these retail packs can be carried at other local stores, whether the cooperative stores in nearby Bloomington and Urbana, small-town IGAs, or even larger conventional groceries. Our licensed commercial kitchen will be made available for rent to local food entrepreneurs, meaning more local food products will be available in Mt. Pulaski than ever before. Again, MOTH will have first access to those products. That means more delicious local jams, sauces, baking mixes, breads and baked goods, dried herbs and spices...almost anything imaginable. The beautiful thing about a local food system is that when more parts of it grow and thrive, the other parts grow and thrive with it. And since the last step in the chain of the food system is the local people who will eat the food, we all will grow and thrive too. Beyond what is described above, the opportunities to collaborate and grow together are endless. MOTH was just the beginning. Then comes the FarmFED Co-op. What do you imagine will be next?

The USDA defines a food hub as “a centrally located facility with a business management structure facilitating the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and/or marketing of locally/regionally produced food products.” With this broad definition, FarmFED Co-op is indeed a food hub. Food hubs take a variety of forms and exist across the country, sometimes as cooperatives, sometimes as non-profits, sometimes as links in a chain of multiple food hubs or as part of a larger entity such as a grocery store or a community organization. After looking at many models, both successful and not, of food hubs across the country, and looking at our needs and resources as a community, we identified a fresh food processing facility as the specific kind of food hub we would develop. In time, we could grow to serve other purposes in our food system, or other food hubs could also emerge nearby to fill those roles.

FarmFED Co-op plans to work with both conventional and certified organic growers. This of course becomes complicated when organic produce comes in contact with non-organic produce, threatening the growers’ certification and market premium that goes with it. This can be addressed by either offering satisfactory prices to all types of growers, or by creating clear protocol for differentiating produce within the facility. This protocol may wind up making it easier for organic growers to use the custom processing services of our facility rather than its bulk buying program (learn more below) to maintain their farm's values identity. Regardless, our cooperative has both organic and conventional growers as owners, and their voices are being heard as we continue to develop our standard operating procedures.

Growers can interact with FarmFED’s operations in four distinct ways: Bulk buying: Growers sell produce to the cooperative in bulk through arranged contracts. Custom processing: Growers arrange to have their produce processed at the cooperative for a fee. Cold storage: Growers rent refrigerated or frozen storage space in the facility. Commercial kitchen: Growers rent the licensed commercial kitchen to add value to their farm’s products and be able to sell to more markets.

We will be lightly processing (e.g., chopping carrots into matchsticks, slicing and deseeding peppers, shelling and shucking corn) and freezing local produce, then packaging it into either bulk bags (e.g., 10-lb or 35-lb units) for sale to larger buyers like schools or smaller retail packs (e.g., 12-oz or 2-lb units) for sale to retail outlets such as grocery stores. In the beginning, we will be focusing on some key staple vegetables such as sweet corn, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, and green beans, but should be able to soon accommodate other produce such as potatoes or squashes. Some of that will depend on our growers’ ability to scale up their production of those crops, and some will depend on our ability to be prepared to process them.

We have actively included a number of local growers to inform our decision-making over the past year, including PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Maddox Sweet Corn Farm in Warrensburg, O’Rourke Family Farms in Downs, and Fox Path Farm in Mt. Pulaski. We anticipate all those growers will be willing and able to work with us once we are operational. Our hope is also that other growers who are on a smaller scale will see FarmFED as an opportunity to scale up and reach new markets. We also included several local buyers in our planning, including Lincoln Elementary School District, Zion Lutheran School and Vonderlieth Living Center in Mt. Pulaski, Illinois State University, and Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln , as well as retailers such as Green Top Grocery in Bloomington and Market on the Hill in Mt. Pulaski. We anticipate adding similar institutional (e.g., schools, hospitals, and assisted living facilities) and grocery entities to our list of buyers as we become operational.