Values
the beanstalk organic food endeavours to bring together diverse people in a welcoming and responsive environment. Our community encompasses our members, customers, local farmers and other suppliers, the city of Newcastle, the Hunter region and its residents. Our values are:
- Care of Community
- Care for Earth
- Sustainability
- Inclusiveness, diversity and respect
- Co-operation and Sharing
- Integrity
- Participation
Care of Community
We are committed to building a learning organization skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights.
the beanstalk organic food seeks to educate our members and the community about food issues and food production to promote well-being and health. Our educational materials will be understandable, informative, factual and evidence based.
the beanstalk organic food encourages local production for local consumption
the beanstalk organic food looks to building an alternative social and economic structure that circulates local economic resources to promote a stable local economy with emphasis on self-reliance.
Care for Earth
At the beanstalk organic food we take our ecological responsibility seriously and encourages our members and others in the community to do likewise. Concern for the environment is shown by careful consideration of the ecological consequences of all our decisions. We exercise ecological responsibility and leadership in the choice of all our products.
the beanstalk organic food supports farmers using sustainable organic food production methods to enable the regeneration of our earths resources. This reduces the amount of chemicals and pesticides that polluting our soils and waterways.
We believe the less packaging on a product the better. The energy taken to produce the packaging and the effects of plastics and other packaging is environmentally unsound. Wherever possible a product will be sold in its raw state. We encourage our members and customers to use reusable bags and recycled materials.
At beanstalk buy locally grown food as this reduces the amount of carbon fuel needed in the transportation of goods which means less of our earth's non-renewable resources have been used in the process.
Sustainability
the beanstalk organic food is committed to sustainability in all areas of operation. We purchase and promote products that use sustainable food production methods, using less energy and less of our earths limited resources.
We aim to contribute to a sustainable local economy where goods are grown, bought and sold and where money and resources stay within our community.
At beanstalk we endeavour to provide a sustainable management structure and respect for volunteers based on co-operative methods.
Inclusiveness, diversity and respect
The local community is made up of diverse groups with varied interests. the beanstalk organic food aims to be accessible to all and actively promoted to those who would not otherwise have access to organic products.
the beanstalk organic food will aim to create an environment where all members feel valued and empowered to actively participate in the co-operative.
Respect for the environment, respect for our community and respect for the operations of the co-operative is taken in consideration with any decision made by beanstalk
Co-operation and Sharing
A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a democratically run enterprise. the beanstalk organic food believes in the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. beanstalk members believe in the values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
We believe that community-controlled cooperatives not operated for profit meet human needs more effectively and equitably than institutions based on individual profit. Through working with local farmers and other producers we seek to build an alternative social and economic structure based on open membership, cooperation, democratic community control, not-for-profit operation and ethical responsibility.
the beanstalk organic food aims to promote skill sharing between its members and other like-minded individuals and groups within our community.
Participation
The co-op thrives on and is enriched by the participation of its members in all aspects of the the beanstalk organic food operation such as:
Decision making
Liasing with farmers and other retail outlets
Distribution of goods
Educating each other and the community
The more members who participate in the functioning of the beanstalk the stronger a co-operative it will be.
the beanstalk organic food encourages the participation of local cottage industries (that meet our values and conditions) that are not organically certified to develop and grow to the point where organic certification is a possibility.
Integrity
At the beanstalk organic food we try, with our boxes and the other goods for sale, to remain true to our core values and will be pro-active in carrying high quality and affordable foods and products. We recognise high-quality foods to have one or many of the following criteria: organic certification, high nutritional value, lower levels of processing, local production, diversity in food crops, and contributing to environmental and economic sustainability.
We will aim to make it clear to members and customers where the food and products are grown and what level of organic certification the products possess.
We seek to give a reliable service to all our customers while providing an avenue for suggestions to make the service better for all.