I’m one of the worker-owners of Equal Exchange and because our unique worker-owned/worker-governed co-operative business model was raised I thought I’d offer these two links.

The first one describes the model and can help one understand why we think it offers an example of how a business can be sustainable, fair AND resist being bought up by the Coke’s and Unilever’s of the world.
http://www.equalexchange.coop/worker-owned/

And this second one (from our blog http://www.SmallFarmersBigChange.coop )tackles the challenge of our co-op maintaining our democratice values and practices even as we keep growing. We now have 86 of whom are worker-owners, and another 15-20 folks who are “in-the-pipeline” stage towards becoming owners:
http://eecampaign.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/if-big-is-bad-and-small-is-better-whats-the-right-scale-to-be-democratic-and-have-impact/

There’s also the issue of producing enough food locally. There are some areas where the land simply can not produce enough food for the density of people around. What happens then? And should we be trading at least some food so we can enjoy things like rice and bananas? And how do we take water needs into account? And where is the balance point between farmers making “enough” money and food not being “too” expensive? And what happens when one farmer decides to sell at slightly lower prices?

Okay, I’m starting to sound like a naysayer when really I am hopeful but man, the logistics seem complicated! It goes way beyond farming, too. Are we still going to have processed food? Lets consider crackers, a food I enjoy greatly but haven’t figured out how to make at home. How do we produce them locally with labor that is paid a living wage and distributed in an environmentally sound way but still have them be affordable to the average consumer? What does that business model look like? What does the farming business model look like?

I think it’s possible but only if people are willing to pay more for their food, either directly through the price or indirectly through government subsidies. Admittedly, a lot could be done by taking the subsidies away from crops like corn and soybeans that underwrite our unhealthy food system, but even if we agree that’s better in the long run, we have to acknowledge it would be devastating to farmers who have depended on those subsidies for years, and we have to figure out how to deal with that.

Whew. I guess I could go on forever too.

I suggest reading the book if you haven’t already … there’s so much more well-researched info i’m not myself adequate at explaining … i am mostly referencing chapter 9, Big Organic here, but he does address many of the questions you have, i believe. sorry but i need to stop, i am very passionate about this stuff and could do on forever.

i really think a return to local sustainability, which emphasizes variety and periodic crop rotation, is our best last hope. unfortunately, when has the mass ever bought into anything Albert Howard or Wendell Berry has said? if all communities ate locally, sure we might not have too exotic a plate, but we’d be doing best by the earth, and using it as it would intended to be used. it would improve health and give more jobs back to americans, versus migrant farmworkers (not that i dislike the migrants for any particular reason!). the carbon footprints of transporting both the food and the consumer transporting himself together would also be drastically reduced. i also think nearly every american that can should receive some sort of incentive for growing their own backyard fruits and vegetables.

what say you?