Saint Paul, MN—National Co+op Grocers (NCG) has released its 2021 Food Co-op Impact Report. NCG, which joins together 148 food co-ops whose leaders work together to elect their board and represent the goals and aspirations of 1.3 million food co-op members from communities across 38 states, said the report spotlights the ways food co-ops are working together to drive change in the food system and prioritize people’s wellbeing from the fields, to factories, cashiers to cooks.
A few highlights, as outlined in a press release:
Food Co-ops as Employers
- The average food co-op employs 96 people, 57% of whom are eligible for healthcare benefits (,13% higher than the national coverage rate for service employees).
- Of NCG’s 148 independent food co-ops, 58% pay all staff local livable wages and 66% of food co-ops contribute to staff retirement plans. (The U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics data reports that nationally, 40% of service employees have employer-sponsored retirement plans.)
- 95% of food co-ops report consensually and securely tracking staff demographic information, and 76% track demographics for leadership. NCG shared that it offers education, training and support to empower food co-ops to make institutional changes to build inclusive and equitable employment culture.
Affordability and Local Sourcing
- Co-ops’ popular Co+op Deals promotion program saves customers an average of 25%-off retail prices on a selection of more than 2,000 brand-name items on sale each month.
- The average NCG food co-op purchases from 178 local farms and producers whose products make up 26% of a co-op’s total sales.
Building an Inclusive Economy and Climate Friendly Future
- 40% of food co-ops’ combined annual $2.4 billion sales come from Certified Organic products, according to NCG.
- NCG donated $90,000 to organizations advocating for organic agriculture in 2021.
- Certified B Corp products made up 9% of the average food co-op’s total sales.
- Fair Trade Certified products made up 5% of sales.
- Through the Co+op Forest program (in which food co-ops work with fair trade farmer co-ops in Peru to offset a portion of greenhouse gas emissions associated with annual business travel by planting and protecting trees in the Peruvian Amazon) more than 1.8 million trees have been planted and/or protected.
