Friends of Food: How Ethical Consumerism Can Advance the Cooperative Movement for Food Sovereignty

Falon Snodgrass* and Joshua Lohnnes

Department of Geology and Geography, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation Category: Oral-Behavioral & Social Sciences (Oral Presentation #47)

Student’s Major: French and International Studies

FIRSTHAND is a student-centered coffee cooperative at West Virginia University that goes beyond Fair-Trade to cultivate a more just, shared economy based on economic cooperation and solidarity. We connect mountain communities through coffee sales, education and investments in rural community development initiatives in Nicaragua and West Virginia.. Drawing on four months of action-research with FIRSTHAND through the Geography Engagement Program during the Spring 2021 semester, I reflect on the development of a multi-stakeholder fundraising initiative to secure the 82-acre Whitlock Farm in Fayetteville, WV. Working alongside the Agrarian Trust, New Roots Community Farm and 19 Coffee company, FIRSTHAND leveraged its networks, knowledge and engagement experience to advance the land commons movement in West Virginia and beyond. Specifically, I demonstrate how the development and sale of the Commons Blossom coffee blend has reshaped consumer perspectives and engagement around land tenure questions in Appalachia and advanced FIRSTHAND’s mission of fostering solidarity economies through the international cooperative movement. The research asks how consumers perceive their role in advancing work toward a Land Commons initiative in Fayetteville, West Virginia.

Funding: Geography Engagement Program and One Foundation

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: Other, Geography Engagement Program Internship