This week, Quebec farmers and worker-owners Dan Brisebois and Emily Board talk about how their cooperative farm got its start and how they settled on their current business model of CSA boxes and selling seeds.Â
Then, Jem Bendell writes about how the breakdown of our current economic system provides opportunity for a radical reframing of co-ops, commons, and the solidarity economy that places them at the core of movement that seeks "manage collapse with care and cooperation," rather than trying to fix an unsustainable system.Â
What It’s Like to Farm as a Co-op
by Growing for Market Magazine
In this video farm tour, we visit Ferme CoopĂ©rative Tourne-Sol, a thriving co-op farm just outside Montreal, Quebec. You'll get a behind-the-scenes look at how Tourne-Sol balances vegetable production, CSA distribution, and a robust organic seed business. Learn how collaboration fuels their success and what it's like to farm as a cooperative in Canada.Â
Systems are breaking—And that’s our opportunity
by Jem Bendell
[E]xplain that we’re helping people now, in the vacuum left by dysfunctional states and extractive corporations. Convene conversations about what it means to operate as “disaster-responsive” economic actors. Map your community’s most vulnerable needs and match them with the resources your network can already provide—be it food, childcare, housing, or repair. Strengthen regional alliances between SSE actors and push funders to drop their fixation on scale, and instead invest in redundancy, local relevance, and deep trust.
When is a business a good fit for a worker cooperative transition?
Project Equity — Coops work best when selling owners and succession management want to see employees rewarded, retained and engaged in an ownership culture. That’s because in a coop, equity and governance are managed by the employee-owners. Any employee-owners who pay a small equity buy-in elect the Board of Directors, which, unlike many privately held companies, is made up mostly or entirely of employee-owners...
Participate now in the 2025 Enterprise Census of Worker Cooperatives and Democratic Workplaces
USFWC —When you fill out the census, your business helps generate the insights the field needs to advocate for resources for your co-op and others. Your participation helps us showcase shared ownership as a source of high-quality jobs, advocate for increased access to capital and win cooperative-friendly policies...
Relationships and Trust
Working Class Stories — Michaela is wearing a dark blue collared shirt that reads “Pecos Valley Public Services” and cargo pants. And that’s why I’ve come to find her today. She’s behind an all-volunteer, community-led EMS service– the first in New Mexico– that embeds itself in the community to provide free medical support to local residents...Her eyes scan the room, the way a lifeguard checks a pool. “What we want to do is simple: Be here in case someone needs us.”...
Faith-Fueled Economics in the Philippines
Laudato Si' Action Program — Together, the Council of the Laity of the Philippines and WeGen Laudato Si’ have launched one of the most ambitious church-led renewable energy transitions in the region. Since 2016, they’ve supported over 330 installations of solar panel systems across the country, displacing millions of kilowatt-hours of fossil fuel energy and dramatically reducing emissions...This transition is being powered not by foreign investment or corporate sponsorship, but by Catholic cooperatives and local financing models. Through what’s called the Laudato Si’ Circular Model of Financial Solidarity, dioceses are reimagining how capital flows—and who benefits.
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