Start to create a Food Team

A food team is a group of people who together purchase basic food from local or regional producers and collect it weekly at a common depot. Orders and payments for the products are made practically through a store page.

A food team is a group of volunteers who organize themselves autonomously and thus control their own food from local farmers. It is a fair and easy way to help food lovers to propose your food locally and gain a small fees from the members to maintain and manage the team.

Every team has its own effect, but the basis is the same everywhere:

  • A core group fills in a few fixed tasks.
  • members order as regularly as possible via the web page.
  • members pay fees, a team contribution and their orders each month.
  • products are delivered weekly in one common depot decided by the Food Team.
  • members are responsible for a smooth depot operation.

How select the producers?

The producers of Food Teams are farmers, growers and artisan processors. They are selected on the basis of their ecological, economic and social management. Producers who supply food teams pay attention to the origin of their raw materials, the use of fertilizers, the respect for biodiversity and good care for the land, the wise use of energy, limiting packaging ….
 
In addition to farmers, Food Teams also works with some processors and World Shops. Here too, the criteria of fair trade, respect and sustainability apply.
 
Although producers are often – and preferably – organic or biodynamic, sticking on labels also has its limitations and is not an absolute guideline for the organization.
 
The producers do choose autonomously to organize their sales through a short food chain. The advantages of this are the emphasis on the local character of the products, increasing the autonomy in pricing, transparency about the origin, the limited distance between producer and consumer.