Dave Gutknecht

Introduction

Having members of a retail food cooperative contribute labor toward the operation of their store is one of those practices that is wholly unnecessary or even undesirable in the

"Boon or Bane?" was the title question in a section on member labor in the first issue of Cooperative Grocer (October-November 1985).

Art Danforth died May 10, 1987, at the age of 74, after five decades of consumer cooperative activism and public service.

The past year has been a difficult one for Associated Cooperatives Inc. (ACI), the wholesale in Richmond, California, and for some of its member retail co-ops.

Surrounded by the rolling hills of southern Indiana, some 360 co-op board members, managers, staff, trainers and others attended the 2010 Consumer Cooperative Management Association (

Securing adequate capital from members as well as external sources is a primary ­cooperative challenge.

The year 2012 marks a new stage in the history of this magazine, one that will lead to improvements in web-based services for food co-ops.

Alongside many new cooperatives that are springing up, established food co-ops continue to evolve and deepen their community roots.