Harmony Market cooperative plans to restructure

By Dan MacArthur
North Forty News

Local producers should see a greater role in the Colorado Harmony Market despite failure of its cooperative component barely a month after it opened.

With the demise of the co-op, which was selling products from outside the region, the market is returning to its original goal of building connections between consumers and local agricultural producers, according to Colorado State University Cooperative Extension specialist Dawn Thilmany.

"I think it's going to be way more local," she said.

Located in the former Steele's grocery store at 1001 E. Harmony Road, the two successful anchor businesses, Fiona's Delicatessen and Long's Family Farms, will remain in the market and likely take over some of the space previously occupied by the co-op, Thilmany said.

The market is a partnership of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, the American Farmland Trust, CSU and others interested in regional food production, according to Thilmany. Organized by the nonprofit Harmony Farmer's Foundation, the market originally was structured as a three-legged stool with each leg supporting the others.

The Weld County-based Long's Family Farms offers antibiotic- and hormone-free meats. Fiona's offers hundreds of locally produced meats, cheeses, baked goods, herbs, vegetables and fruits, and the Harmony Cooperative offered regionally grown natural and organic produce and dairy goods, frozen and bulk foods, nutritional supplements and body care products. Annual dues of $25 entitled members to discounts and refunds should the co-op become profitable.

Thilmany said it became apparent following the mid-July opening that the cooperative was undercapitalized and unable to keep shelves adequately stocked. As a result, she said, the market's appearance and reputation started suffering. At the same time, a new premium health foods store opening in Fort Collins created more competition. The cooperative "chose to do it at the wrong time," she said.

Given the co-op's obvious distress, Thilmany said, the foundation requested a revised business plan, but the co-op instead decided to vacate the space. She said efforts to recruit a replacement grocer were unsuccessful. "We struggled to find anyone who was interested in the grocery end," she said.

Fiona's and Long's are similarly disinterested in taking on the grocery business, Thilmany said, although they may be willing to take on a bigger role in providing a market for locally produced products.

"They're very open to people who want to sell their products that are local," she said. "That's why people were coming in there for the local stuff."

Thilmany conceded that the market is undergoing "an awkward transition" and details of the transition are yet to be determined. "It's all a work in progress," she said. "We're just having to reinvent part of it."

"That's what we're working on now," John Long of Long's Family Farms said in a brief interview. He did not return a call seeking further information. Representative of the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the American Farmland Trust also did not return a call seeking comments.

Thilmany said it was unclear whether co-op memberships will be refunded. She said the 5 percent member discount is still in effect until the end of the year on remaining co-op products.