Cooperative Development

News Release — 12/07/03

CENTER SEEKS TO IDENTIFY FARMER GROUPS FOR PILOT COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Rob Holland, program coordinator for the Center for Profitable Agriculture’s new cooperative development emphasis, has announced that the Center is seeking applications/nominations of farmer groups that are interested in working with the Center as pilot-projects.

The Center is trying to identify farmer groups that are interested in considering a formal cooperative venture. The Center will then work closely with these groups in the consideration, planning, evaluation and development of formal cooperative efforts. This development process may or may not involve legal organization as a cooperative – partnerships, LLCs, corporations, non-profits, alliances and associations may be the preferred resulting organization.

“We want to work closely with at least two different groups of farmers who are considering some type of project or organization where all the members can benefit by working together,” says Holland. “There are several hurdles that groups need to overcome and we want to work through the developmental stages of these organizations with them.”

In order to identify groups that already have common interests and possibly already have some organization in place, the Center has developed a Nomination/Application process. Nomination/Application Forms may be obtained by contacting Rob Holland at 931-486-2777 or at rwholland@utk.edu.

This form should be used as a nomination/application form for a farmer group to be considered as one of the pilot projects. The selected farmer groups will be contacted and a specific schedule will be developed for one-on-one assistance with each group during the coming months. Completed forms should be submitted to the Center by January 21, 2004.