Cooperatives Spotlight

From the Caribbean to West Africa, from the Andes to the Sea Islands, communities are reclaiming land, reviving culture, and rebuilding economies through cooperation. While each cooperative works within distinct geographies and realities, these agrarian and food cooperatives are demonstrating how shared ownership and solidarity economics can transform the conditions that shape our lives.

Together, these cooperatives (local, regional, national and international) illustrate that food sovereignty is not just about growing food, but about growing power, belonging, and freedom. From the soil to the storefront, they show how cooperation can repair what extraction has broken and build the infrastructure for a just and regenerative food future.

La Cooperativa de Acceso a Tierras (Puerto Rico)

In Puerto Rico, La Cooperativa de Acceso a Tierras (La C.A.T.) is charting a bold path toward collective land stewardship. Formed in the wake of compounding climate disasters and deepening economic precarity, La C.A.T. is working to make farmland accessible to local producers through cooperative ownership and management. Their model aims to heal the fractures created by centuries of colonial and corporate control that have long defined Puerto Rico’s agricultural landscape, transforming land into a shared resource rather than a commodity. Operating within the complex context of Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory, La C.A.T.’s work illustrates how food and land sovereignty are inseparable from political sovereignty. By building cooperative structures for land access, they are cultivating both autonomy and resilience in the face of overlapping crises.

Black Dirt Farm Collective (Maryland)

In the U. S. Mid-Atlantic region the Black Dirt Farm Collective (BDFC) is redefining agroecology and Black agrarian leadership. Formed in 2012, the collective unites farmers, educators, scientists, seed keepers, and organizers who see land as a site of healing and liberation. Grounded in Afroecology, BDFC blends ancestral ecological knowledge with political education, cultivating a regenerative community through farmer organizing and their Mid-Atlantic Agroecology Encounter. In 2020, they secured 24 acres of land to anchor a Black-led agroecological village rooted in soil-based justice. Honored in 2023 with the 15th Annual Food Sovereignty Prize, BDFC continues to reclaim land, wealth, and agrarian identity through cooperative power.

Gullah Farmers Cooperative (South Carolina)

Along South Carolina’s Sea Islands, the Gullah Farmers Cooperative preserves both culture and sustenance through collective production. Founded in 2010 by small-scale Gullah growers, this Black-owned cooperative unites farmers to strengthen markets and share resources. With USDA support, they established a 10,000-square-foot processing facility that enables certified produce distribution to schools, restaurants, and retailers. Rooted in the traditions of rice, collards, and sweetgrass, the cooperative embodies a living legacy of Gullah-Geechee foodways, sustaining not only livelihoods but also language, land, and lineage.

Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance (National-United States)

The Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance (UCFA), a program of STEAM Onward Inc., connects BIPOC growers and gardeners through a dynamic seed-sovereignty network. UCFA cultivates and distributes heirloom and culturally meaningful seeds, foods, herbs, and fibers that carry ancestral healing and identity. By centering cultural crops, UCFA strengthens biodiversity and community autonomy, ensuring that the knowledge of seed stewardship remains in the hands of those who carry it forward.

National Co+op Grocers (United States)

At the national level, National Co+op Grocers (NCG) demonstrates how cooperation can scale without sacrificing autonomy. NCG is a business services cooperative representing 167 food co-ops operating 241 stores in 39 states, with combined annual sales exceeding $2.8 billion and serving over 1.3 million consumer-owners. By providing the shared capacity of a chain while preserving each store’s independence, NCG strengthens purchasing power, marketing, and advocacy across the food co-op network. As a unified voice, NCG advances shared values around fair food systems, environmental sustainability, and community resilience. Their interactive map of member co-ops helps people across the country find and support their local food cooperative.

National Coordination of Farmer Organisations Mali CNOP  (Mali)

In West Africa, CNOP (Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes du Mali) embodies the power of cooperation as a political agency. Founded in 2002, CNOP is a socio-professional confederation uniting Mali’s various farmers’ federations under one national umbrella. As the country’s only recognized framework for farmer representation, CNOP gives family farmers a collective voice in shaping agricultural policy.

CNOP’s mission is to build a strong national peasant movement that advances the socio-economic well-being of family farms and rural producers. It advocates for an agriculture that is modern yet deeply rooted in tradition– an agriculture that is secure, sustainable, and aligned with Mali’s national and regional development goals. As a member of ROPPA (Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs de l’Afrique de l’Ouest), CNOP plays an active role in regional advocacy for food sovereignty and family farming across West Africa. Through training, policy engagement, and grassroots mobilization, CNOP works to ensure that agricultural development benefits those who feed the nation. Food First is proud to serve as CNOP’s fiscal sponsor, supporting their continued leadership in advancing farmer rights and agroecological resilience across the region.

Semilla Austral (Chile)

From the southern cone of Latin America, Semilla Austral offers a vibrant example of cooperation rooted in agroecology, biodiversity, and intergenerational stewardship. Featured in Food First’s recently completed research study WriteShop, this Chilean cooperative is composed of farming families who dedicate themselves to the recovery, reproduction, and circulation of organic and agroecological seeds. Semilla Austral understands that caring for seeds is inherently a collective act. They address the factors that endangers not only genetic diversity but also cultural and ecological resilience. Their seeds, adaptive, fertile, and imbued with memoria climática y cultural, carry centuries of campesino knowledge and evolve alongside their caretakers.

In 2019, Semilla Austral developed its Sistema Participativo de Garantía Agroecológica Integral, an internal system that ensures seed quality through peer learning and continuous improvement. By 2023, the cooperative became officially recognized by Chile’s Ministry of Agriculture as an Organización de Agricultores Ecológicos, enabling self-certification of organic production under national law. Spanning the length of Chile, Semilla Austral’s members sustain regenerative systems that nourish soil, communities, and future generations.