Driftless Heart
Jan Rasikas, General Manager
Local and organic food in the heart of the Driftless Region.
It all comes together at the Viroqua Food Co+op.
There’s a reason why we call this newsletter The Heart Beet; why the Viroqua Food Co+op (VFC) brags about being in the heart of the Driftless. Part of this is geography. The Driftless region is a beautiful and fertile stretch of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois and we are in the middle of it. But it's more than that - our region is a major hub for organic growers and makers. We celebrate this Driftless ingenuity and grit in our store as we work to build a local food economy.
Our small-town is known as a foodie destination and the Viroqua Food Co+op plays a big part in making that a reality. At the VFC, the light shines bright on local farmers who build healthy soil to grow organic food. It's where you can find hand-crafted, fresh beautiful products for you and your family. It's where small businesses get a leg-up when we share their great stories with owners and shoppers. The folks who live in the Driftless region know that our Co-op is a destination and draws owner-members from Spring Green to Caledonia; from Sparta to Prairie du Chien and beyond.
The VFC runs essential programs like Give Where You Live that lift up the community organizations that make our lives rich and full. Through our Microlending Initiative we can provide our local folks like an organic maple producer, a local brewery, and an organic tomato grower a no-interest microloan to improve their operations. We care for our community in these ways because we choose a cooperative business model that has concern for community as one of its guiding principles.
But our impact goes much further than that. The University of Minnesota Extension studied VFC’s economic impact on Vernon County during our 2018 expansion.* As part of the New Markets Tax Credit program used to help fund the project, Equity Plus hired the University of Minnesota to conduct a study measuring the economic contribution of our food cooperative. Before we expanded, we generated an estimated $12.3 million of economic activity to Vernon County annually. The study estimated that at our 2023 fully expanded capacity, the Viroqua Food Co+op’s annual contribution to Vernon County’s economy jumps to $20.3 million.
We operate, embrace, and share this cooperatively run business not because it is the easiest way to go, but because we know that it is the best way to build a local food economy, care for our community, and ensure that everyone has access to good food. We are more than a grocery store; we are a community that shares values and cares for each other. We are a Co-op with heart.
* Tuck, Brigid. "Economic contribution of the Viroqua Food Cooperative" Univeristy of Minnesota Extension. 2018. https://extension.umn.edu/community-research/economic-contribution-viroqua-food-cooperative