We’re A Cooperative!

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Maple Valley Cooperative

Farmer-Owned. Fair Trade. Organic. And a Cooperative!

Maple Valley, a pioneer in Organic and Fair Practices for maple production, is also a cooperative (co-op).

In 2007 we created a co-op with five classes of membership: Producers, Customers, Investors, Vendors, and Employees. Maple Valley decided to create The Organic Maple Cooperative co-op representing all of our stakeholders as a way to leverage the strength of our producer base, our outstanding employee knowledge and our strong customer following and to represent investors who believe in cooperatives as a socially responsible investment vehicle.

In our co-op, producers are the dominant stakeholders, with customers, producers, investors, vendors, and employees each having a representative on the board. Our seven member board consists of four directors elected by producers and one director elected from each of the customer and investor, producer, vendor, and employee groups.

Our producer base encompasses Wisconsin, the Great Lakes, and the Appalachian regions of the U.S. Our central processing, warehousing and offices are based in Cashton, Wisconsin.

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The Organic Maple Cooperative Mission

To produce and market organic maple products through fair and sustainable methods, respecting producers (farmers), customers, investors, vendors, employees, the land, and our communities.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

What Is A Cooperative?

A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. Cooperatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity.

In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others. Co-ops are unique because they are owned by the membership. Regardless of how much equity a member contributes, all members have only one vote and an equal say.

Although a co-op needs to remain profitable to continue to operate and thrive, the business also exists to serve the community, not solely to make a profit for its shareholders. All of this makes the cooperative entity a powerful tool to create stable economies, meet local needs, and even change the way business is done.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]