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Local & Regional Products |
Back in the mid 1980’s when Saturday mornings saw Albuquerque’s only
farmers market, held in the
parking lot of the local country music dance hall,
La Montanita Co-op embarked on a journey to support local and regional
growers. At the time, members of the
Co-op staff would go to the Saturday morning market and invite farmers and
growers to bring any extra produce to the Co-op after the market closed or
bring their produce to the Co-op mid-week for a little extra income.
Since those early days, when the Co-op was just about the
only place in town local growers could sell their produce, eggs and other
products, the Co-op’s commitment to local and regionally grown and value added
food has become legendary.
Today on a regular basis, the Co-op carries over 1100 local
products from nearly 700 local producers, and local food purchases and
sales accounts for 20% of Co-op totals.
Now with demand local foods blooming, the La Montanita’s decades of
demonstrated commitment make the Co-op a regional leader in the local foods
movement.
The Co-op works to educate our member/owners, shoppers and
the larger community on the importance of local foods for their nutritional value, a safe secure food
system, a strong local economy and good
ecological stewardship practices for a sustainable future.
Learn about our local producers and read their stories click
here .
For over three decades the Co-op has supported our local
growers and producers.
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We believe fresh locally grown, unprocessed food provides the greatest nutritional value for your food dollar. Building relationships with small and mid sized family farmers committed to sustainable stewardship practices helps us provide the freshest high quality food available while strengthening the local economy.
We believe in fair and just dealings at every level of our cooperative, from the soil and the farmer to the consumer.
We believe a strong local/regional economy based on a network of relationships between producers and consumers not only provides the safest, freshest food but is an important tool in the creation of a cooperative and sustainable future.
The Co-op Trade initiative is an expansion of our efforts to support local farmers, ranchers and producers, bring high quality local/regional food to consumers and build the local food movement economy.