Annual Meeting 2009

By Elizabeth Archerd, Member Services Manager

If you didn't make it to the Annual Membership Meeting back in October, you missed a great event. We met over at Co-op Partners Warehouse (CPW), just off Vandalia and University Avenues. In addition to a lovely dinner from the Deli, we sampled coffee, chocolate and snacks generously donated by Equal Exchange, and tasted the first Rochdale Farms products, including cheeses and hand-rolled butter. The board officers and members of the Wedge management team gave their reports, and we finished up the election as well. After the meeting warehouse staff members led tours for members interested in the inner workings of our wholesale department.

We heard a rousing talk about the state of the organic industry* by Mark Kastel of Cornucopia Institute. While Mark calls himself an organic watchdog, we refer to him as our "organic pitbull." Once he bites into an issue, he doesn't let go. We owe Mark and the staff at Cornucopia a debt of gratitude for their unstinting efforts to ensure the integrity of the organic label. In fact, this year the USDA is reopening a slew of complaints, previously dismissed or ignored, from Cornucopia that document violations of the organic rules by various industry players. It is to our benefit to have vigorous enforcement of the organic rules.

The meeting had a record turnout and we expect to hold annual meetings in the warehouse again. Don't miss them.

* See Mark's talk at: www.youtube.com/user/WedgeNaturalFoodCoop