What Ohio's Co-op Evangelists Learned From Spain's Thriving Union Co-op Network

Around the world, students borrow money to pay for college, but, in the United States, students are more likely to fall behind on loans. Australia may offer some lessons: borrowers in Australia only start paying back their loans once their earnings reach $40,000, and beyond that they pay four percent of their income until the loans are repaid. The system does not penalize borrowers when they face economic hardship.

The small town of Iola, KS, and Allen County's GROW Council offer a case study of how local communities across this prairie state have worked to solve the absence of grocery stores in many rural areas. Through local resourcefulness and organizing efforts; knowledge and financial support from the state government; and partnership with Kansas State University's Rural Grocery Initiative, towns have succeeded in bringing grocery stores, from locally-owned coops to school-based distribution hubs, back to their Main Streets.

As climate change has brought rising temperatures and more frequent droughts to much of Africa, some communities in Senegal are finding ways to survive by adapting their agricultural practices. Medicinal plants can be harvested more frequently and sold at higher prices than traditional millet and grain. The senna (Cassia) shrub in particular has allowed farmers, especially women, to sustain economic hope and prosperity, with the added benefit of improving the health of local villagers.

In Jackson, Mississippi, a series of community-led cooperatives are creating opportunities for affordable home ownership. This is part of a trend across the country to create community land trusts. They are financed through donations, other community businesses, or commissions. Though each land trust faces hurdles, they are collectively allowing more access to wealth and ownership in historically low-income neighborhoods.

Over two million baby boomers own their own companies, and with retirement looming, the government stepped in with a solution. A portion of a 2018 federal bill included language that will push the Small Business Administration to help baby boomers transition ownership of their companies to their employees if they wish. This will mitigate job loss often associated with a retiring business owner putting the company up for sale. Employee owners on average make a higher salary and have higher job stability, supporting the idea that employee ownership is beneficial for everyone involved, as well as for the econom

With grocery stores at capacity with delivery services, and people not wanting to leave their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, local farms like Honey Brook Organic Farm are seeing huge increases in business. The New Jersey farm had already started shifting from a CSA model to delivery, so they used that infrastructure to easily pivot. Collaboration with other local farms has been key, so beyond their produce, they’re partnering with their network to deliver meat, eggs, and even prepared meals from local restaurants.

A food hub in Spokane, Washington, is providing a marketplace where fresh, local food is accessible from multiple small farms in one convenient location and website. LINC gives farmers access to a market of consumers without the hassle of deliveries, cultivating business, or staffing booths at farmers' markets. The food hub is helping strengthen the small farm economy while promoting access to fresh foods.

Agriculture accounts for 10 percent of greenhouse emissions in the U.S. according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This article details efforts by small farmers to reduce carbon emissions as part of a larger fight against climate change. Some of their methods include things like switching to solar power, not tilling the soil, using horses rather than tractors, and recharging the soil with organic matter. For some of them- it's yielding results.

Residents of Garima Greh, an organization that provides transgender people with housing and necessities in New Delhi, started a small business making potpourri from the flowers discarded by local temples. They use the funding to pay for necessary medical expenses and gender-affirming care.

The Wyoming Stock Growers Land Trust uses conservation easements to conserve agricultural land in the state. These agreements happen when a landowner sells or donates the development rights to their land to the trust forever. They are allowed to keep farming the land, but it must remain undeveloped.