Northeast Federation Of Cooperatives (NFOC)

We would like to welcome Tiffany Poso-Muñoz to the NFOC board of directors. Tiffany brings extensive experience and has a robust career spanning business development, program deployment and government affairs. She is a passionate startup enthusiast who is skilled in public relations and has been a driving force behind many projects and initiatives related to increasing access of locally sourced foods to institutions. Driven by a desire to positively impact children’s lives; her dedication to child nutrition is a testament to her commitment in making a meaningful difference. Tiffany is working to transform school food programs by establishing her own farm, In Idaho, to grow organic produce and source meat from small, independent farmers, to create a healthier and more sustainable future for generations to come. Deeply committed to regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and land and pollinator conservation, Tiffany is equally passionate about reducing landfill waste and capturing carbon through composting. Tiffany shares a vision with the Northeast Federation of Cooperatives (NFOC) in being dedicated to sustainability of our local communities and future generations. Check out future spotlights, as we continue to grow our regional board of directors. Welcome Tiffany! Happy New Year, Jerome

We'd like to welcome Woullard Lett to our NFOC Board of Directors. Woullard brings a wealth of experience to the NFOC including cooperative organizing, as well as teaching cooperative economics at New Hampshire College and Southern New Hampshire University.  He currently serves on the board of We Tuskegee Ubuntu Collective, a food producer cooperative; Us Lifting Us, a community economic development group; and the Truth and Repair Commons, a financial services organization dedicated to reparative financial processes.  In addition, Mr. Lett serves as the co-chair of the New England Chapter for the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA).  Woullard is a lifetime member of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. He is excited to work with the NFOC to contribute to the economic development of our communities, and advance food sovereignty across the northeast. Welcome to the team Woullard! Check out our spotlight next week for another featured board member as we build out our regional team of Board of Directors. Cheers, Jerome

Hear from Congolese community leader Mardochee Mbongi on the importance of having access to culturally appropriate processing facilities to feed his community. https://lnkd.in/gYMd4XaP

This week, we are spotlighting another NFOC partner, Dawud. Dawud got into the meat business 7 years ago, and started building Ummah Enterprises at Turner Farm in 2017. Ummah Enterprises is an on-site meat processing facility located in Turner, ME. Their mission is to provide food-insecure communities across Maine with clean, healthy and affordable meats. Ummah Enterprises is unique because they provide customers with a culturally appropriate way to slaughter their animals. They believe that people from all backgrounds and religions should have access to slaughtering their own animals and in accordance with their religious beliefs and customs. At Turner Farm, people can come out and slaughter an animal like they would back at home. People also have access to a network of butchers to slaughter for them as well. Check out their website where you can pre-order meat.: https://lnkd.in/gGUmK5Fs Support for Ummah Enterprises at Turner Farm contributes to a growing movement to develop our local food systems. We look forward to continuing work with Dawud. Cheers to local food production. Our food is our medicine.

At the NFOC, we work cooperatively to supply store owners with meat and produce. This week, we are spotlighting an NFOC partner, Khalid who will be launching his grand opening for K+R Quality Butchers Halal in Manchester, NH. K+R Quality Butchers is a halal butcher shop that works with farmers and ranchers in Maine and New Hampshire to bring about locally sourced food to the community. Khalid has been working towards his dream for 11 years and has a background in farming and ranching in Sudan and here in the U.S. Stay tuned for their grand opening and we look forward to working with K+R Quality Butchers to help them in their mission of providing local communities with fresh meat and produce products. Cheers to local food production. Together we can move mountains.

Today, only about 49,000 black farmers make up just 1.4% of the nations farm owners and work on about 4.7 million acres of land. There are a lot of factors contributing to this disparity, including historic factors relating to policies that displaced black and indigenous farmers in the U.S; such as the Doctrine of Discovery, Headright system of 1618, The land ordinance act of 1785, The Indian removal act of 1830, The homestead act of 1862, the New Deal of 1933, ongoing predatory lending practices from banks and more. At the same time there is increasing limited access for small to medium size farms to get products to market, particularly as the landscape of agriculture across the country gets shaped by the demands of a few powerful retail buyers Walmart, Kroger and Costco Wholesale. Through Cooperatives, we can work together and aggregate resources to bring to local markets. In Maine, at the NFOC, we have partnered with a number of farmers, ranchers, butchers and store owners to work collectively to bring a variety of vegetables and culturally appropriate meat products to market. The work at the NFOC is indigenous led and we work with farmers from all backgrounds. We look forward to create avenues for farmers and ranchers, both new and old, to meaningfully contribute to the development of local food systems. This effort takes a community, and we look forward to spotlighting our partners, completing the pilot and defining a way people can reconnect to land, food and economic opportunity in agriculture. Check out the document below to find out more information about the NFOC! Cheers, Jerome