Food Cooperatives

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Organic Activism: The Roots of the Northern California Food Movement
Food Cooperatives

In 1972, residents and students in Davis, California, formed a buying club to access a wider range of natural, whole foods and ethically sourced products than offered at traditional large grocery chains. As membership grew, the buying club, guided by Isao Fujimoto, a UC Davis faculty member in Community Development and Asian American Studies, evolved into a brick-and-mortar store. The co-op operated through the cooperative model where members take part in the ownership and operation of the store. Ann M. Evans, a UC Davis graduate student who would become a future mayor of Davis, was one of the founding members of the Davis Food Co-op as well as the Davis Farmers Market.

Flyer for the non-profit food and book store "Seeds of Life" — Bilingual handout for Seeds of Life (Mark Ritchie Papers, D-601)

Spanish-language flyer Flyer for the non-profit food and book store "Seeds of Life" — Bilingual handout for Seeds of Life (Mark Ritchie Papers, D-601)

Community-based non-profit stores organizations like Seed of Life were an integral part of the Northern California Food Movement, selling nutritious, affordable foods and sharing information about the movement’s mission.

The title at the top reads "Course on Co-operatives" in handwritten script. The details written on the right are as follows: "When: WED. 7-9pm, Where: Experimental College, How: Register: April 6-22, 6 Lower Freeborn Hall." Text below reads: "Course Coordinator: Jackie Lundy. Cost: $10.00 for 8 weeks. Credit may be possible. History of the Co-op Movement; California Consumer Co-ops; California Agricultural Co-ops; Low-Income Co-ops; Housing Co-ops; Credit Unions. An introductory course will be offered this Spring Quarter on the Cooperative Movement. The course will be a series of guest speakers, all well informed speakers of the above forms of co-operative enterprise." — Courses on Co-operatives, 1976 Published by Dr. Fujimoto’s Alternative Agriculture Resources Project in 1976, this resource book received broad distribution within the burgeoning Northern California Food Movement. The publication promotes more “ecological and socially accountable alternatives to the dominant technological and capital intensive approaches to food production, distribution, and use.”
(Isao Fujimoto Papers, D-601)

A cover for "Turnover Magazine." Features the issue title "What's in a Turnover?" in red at the top with the tagline "Turnover...is sold here" at the bottom — Turnover: A Monthly Magazine of Food Issues, 1976-1978

“Turnover” was a newsletter published by the People’s Food System, a network of cooperative grocery stores in the Bay Area that linked activism and social change with issues of food justice, including people before profits.

Front side of rolodex open. — (Front View) Rolodex for the Berkeley Co-op, 1960s-1980s
This Rolodex was compiled by home economists for the Berkeley Co-op (Consumers Co-op of Berkeley). It contains their quick answers about ingredients and additives.
Davis Food Co-op Records, D-594

Back size of rolodex open. — (Back View) Rolodex for the Berkeley Co-op, 1960s-1980s

State Policymaking Small Farming

Exhibit: Organic Activism: The Roots of the Northern California Food Movement

Introduction State Policymaking Food Cooperatives Small Farming Farmers Markets Food Writing Chefs and Restaurants