October stands for Co-op awareness!

The end of October marks the conclusion of the official celebrations for Co-operatives in North America with Canada celebrating Co-op Week and the US celebrating Co-op Month. 

It is therefore, a fitting time to share the video of the speech given at the GROWMARK Annual Meeting this fall from a young Co-operative Young Leader graduate about the strength of co-operative values, helping to reduce poverty worldwide.

Seventeen year-old Matthew Gerrits was the Ontario youth speaker this year at the Hilton Chicago, where he addressed his thoughts to more than 1,000 GROWMARK delegates, friends and employees of GROWMARK, Inc. Matthew was sponsored to attend CYL by Wanstead Farmers Co-operative.

Matthew is the first speaker in the video followed by youth representatives Abrah Meyer Iowa FFA, Cody Morris Illinois FFA and Alison Wedig Wisconsin FFA. 

Have a look: http://vimeo.com/106501804

Co-op Week --- a reflection of our co-operative history

Our co-operative heritage for Ontario agriculture co-ops dates back 100 years. It was in 1914 that this united agricultural-based co-op network began when a group of farm leaders met and developed the concept of connecting Ontario farmers into one organization.

But it is not only agriculture co-ops that take part in this annual weekly celebration called Co-op Week. The co-op sector has deep roots in Canada. 

In the late 19th century, farmers in Quebec, Ontario and Atlantic Canada developed co-operative creameries and cheese factories to meet the needs of the growing dairy industry. Alphonse Desjardins founded Canada’s first caisse populaire in Lévis, Quebec in 1900. And in the first decade of the 20th century, farmers in western Canada organized co-operatives in an effort to market their products.

Co-op Week has been celebrated by francophones throughout Canada since 1958. In 1981 celebrations were held among Anglophone co-ops in the Maritimes and Saskatchewan. The event went national in 1982 with the encouragement of the Co-operative Union of Canada, a predecessor of the Canadian Co-perative Association.

During Co-op week, fundraising efforts from GROWMARK Ontario employees are geared towards supporting the Co-operative Development Foundation that provides financial support and guidance to global communities in need of a new start through co-operative practices.

    

Celebrating Co-ops Internationally!

Next week is Co-op Week in Canada which is uniquely a Canadian phenomenon. In the United States, October is Co-op Month, and the InternationalCo-operative Alliance and United Nations have an International Day of Co-operatives on the first Saturday in July.

Internationally, good things are happening to strengthen the co-op identity worldwide. Shortly after the United Nations named 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives, the International Co­-operative Alliance developed a new logo for all co­-operatives to use and align with a universal brand that differentiates co-ops from other forms of business.

The Co-­operative marque or logo is now a universal symbol for the global co­-op movement and its collective identity.

At the same time, the General Assembly for the International Co-operative Alliance approved a new go-forward plan outlined in the "Blueprintfor a Co-operative Decade" created to drive forward the beginnings of a world-wide campaign to take the co-operative way of doing business to the next level.

The ambitious plan in this Blueprint - the “2020 Vision” - is for the co-operative form of business by 2020 to become:

• The acknowledged leader in economic, social and environmental sustainability,
• the mode preferred by people, 
• and last but not least, the fastest form of enterprise. 

To read more about this global initiative, visit www.ica.coop

To obtain the universal co-op logo, contact me at: jajohnson@growmark.com or visit www.ica.coop