Wholefoods, cycles, supermarkets: co-operatives are rarely associated with luxury. Yet a surprising range of specialist food and drink is produced, marketed or sold by co-operatives of smallholders and growers.
While we know more and more about the role of co-operatives in producing the chocolate and coffee we enjoy, these are just the tip of the iceberg. There are little-known co-operatives operating very successfully in many parts of the food industry.
Most of the champagne grown in France, for example, comes from co-operatives. Two co-operatives of growers — the Centre Vinicole de la Champagne or CVC and theUnion Champagne — supply a large proportion of the region’s grapes and produce own-brand champagnes for many UK supermarkets.
Notably, CVC owns the world’s second biggest champagne brand, the Nicolas Feuillatte marque.
As Tom Stevenson, author of the Annual Champagne and Sparkling Wine Guide, says: “CVC is in fact a super-co-operative: a collective comprised of no less than 85 member co-operatives and Nicolas Feuillate is its primary brand.”
So, when you’re buying champagne you can buy co-operative.
If you would rather drink wine, there is a fine co-operative tradition there too. Fairtrade wine is largely produced by co-operatives, while a large portion of European wine comes through co-operatives: more than half of French wine and around two thirds of German and Italian wines.
“That’s a lot of wine,” says Mike Veseth, an academic specialising in the economics of wine production. “A huge proportion (perhaps 25% to 30%) of the world’s wine comes from co-operative cellars.”
Many of the UK’s favourite continental foods are produced by co-operatives too.
90% of parmesan cheese is produced by around 550 dairy farmer co-operatives in the northern Italian region of Emilia Romagna through the Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Cooperative, which ensures the quality of the cheese.
Producers of parma ham in the same region are members of the Parma Ham Cooperative, which monitors the quality of products on behalf of its farmer members.
Most Spanish olives are pressed by co-operatives owned by olive farmers. The largest olive oil producer in the world is Dcoop, an Andalusia co-operative with 55,000 farmer members. It has recently partnered with the olive oil distributors Deoleo, giving farmers some control overthe world’s biggest olive brands, such as Bertolli andCarbonell.
Champage, wine, parmesan, parma ham and olives are just the start. The more you look behind the label, the more we find co-operatives behind the world’s luxuries.
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