CO-OP NEWS
Blue Diamond Growers named a new president and chief executive Wednesday, hiring a brand-oriented food executive from Minnesota to lead the century-old Sacramento agriculture cooperative.
Mark Jansen, a top official with frozen-food company Schwan Food, will take over in October as head of Blue Diamond, the leading almond processor in California. He will replace Douglas D. Youngdahl, who has run Blue Diamond since 2001 and announced earlier this year he is retiring.
View the rest of the article at the Sacramento Bee.
Congress should raise the lending limits for credit unions because it would help small businesses and create jobs, said Bill Cheney, president and chief executive officer of the Credit Union National Association.
“Credit unions are lending but they can do a lot more,” said Cheney, 50, in an interview at Bloomberg’s New York office. He became CUNA’s head earlier this month.
View the rest of the article at Business Week.
New World winemaking has the romance of rugged individualism. With properties bankrolled by previous enterprises such as construction or tobacco, winery owners can break rules, (even with scant rules to break), creating new styles (such as White Zinfandel), new packaging (the screw-top) and campaigns to reach new markets (California now exports 20 percent of its wine production, according to the Wine Institute.)
But in the Old World, where small family farms have supported ever-growing families for generations, life as an individual can prove too rugged. With wine law firm but expenses rising, small properties have little opportunity to reach new customers and individualism can put a family one bad vintage away from ruin.
View the rest of the article at the Chicago Daily Herald.
A. Nash Kunkle is looking for artists and craftspeople living and working in and around Cloverdale in order to produce a comprehensive directory of local artisans. From this list, he hopes to find people who are interested in working together to create a co-op studio.
A solid brass up-drift carburetor serves as the inspiration and engine for this fantasy copper and steel truck.
“I’m thinking we might even be able to get a small grant to help with the rent and initial setup costs,” he says.
View the rest of the article at the Sonoma County Press Democrat.
Credit unions could lend more to small business owners under an amendment to a bill being discussed in the U.S. Senate this week.
A higher cap on how much they can lend would spur economic growth at no cost to taxpayers, credit unions say.
The amendment meets with opposition from the banking industry, which makes it part of its larger argument that credit unions that act like banks should be treated like banks and not be given tax-exempt status.
View the rest of the article at the Ventura County Star.
The California Center for Cooperative Development will conduct a one-day workshop for dairy farmers to learn more about the Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy Insurance program, which became available on June 30.
The workshop will be held Aug. 12 at the Stanislaus County Ag Center, Harvest Hall, 3800 Cornucopia Way in Modesto.
View the rest of the article in the Merced Sun Star.
People in El Dorado County are dusting off a 100-year-old concept in an effort to bring 21st-century technology to rural areas.
In the early years of the telephone, rural areas of the United States formed cooperatives to bring phone lines to places for-profit companies wouldn't serve.
View the rest of the article at the Sacramento Bee.
Arrowhead Credit Union has stopped offering business loans, including corporate credit cards and Small Business Administration loans, according to the National Credit Union Administration.
The federal regulatory agency seized Arrowhead on June 25 and placed it into conservatorship, putting the financial institution's executives on paid administrative leave.
View the rest of the article at the Riverside Press-Enterprise.
When David Harde opened Noah's Ark in Placerville in 1993, it was the only place in the area for a good selection of organic produce.
Melisa Clark started shopping there immediately, then worked there as a cashier, and now is the store's general manager. When Harde decided to sell the store, Clark took what she thought was the next logical step.
View the rest of the article at the Sacramento Bee.
CCCD is spotlighted in the USDA announcement of the FY 2010 Rural Cooperative Development Grant.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is accepting grant applications to assist rural businesses and create job opportunities through cooperative development centers.
"Cooperative development centers create jobs by providing rural businesses owners with technical and managerial skills to improve their operations," Vilsack said. "The Obama Administration is working to create a path of opportunity for all hard-working Americans to enter the middle class, and strengthen small and mid-sized communities. These centers further that effort."
View the rest of the article at the USDA's website.