[Hazelhurst-Newsletter] Fwd: Hazelhurst AGM and proposal for the future

[naomi.hazelhurst.coop]

 Apologies if you get this twice .... I don't manage the email lists and 
 the person who does is on holiday. Don't want to miss anyone out. See 
 below:

 Dear Hazelhurst CSA Member,

 Our AGM will take place between 6:30 and 9pm on Thursday 26th September 
 at the Old Sharrow Junior School on South View Road.
 Hazelhurst Management Committee would like to give notice that they are 
 proposing a resolution to partly change the way that the CSA operates.  
 Voting on this resolution (as well as election of the committee) will 
 take place at the AGM. More information about the proposed resolution is 
 given below.

 Hazelhurst CSA is now into its second main growing year. We have 
 managed to produce abundant harvests and have had the pleasure of 
 working with many volunteers. In keeping with its aims, the CSA has 
 enabled many people to access fresh local organic food and we’ve been 
 supplying the Gleadless Valley Foodbank with excess produce this season. 
 The Management Committee feels however that there are two substantive 
 threats to the future success of the CSA.

 The first threat is the financial viability of the Co-op, both in the 
 medium and short-term. We continue to struggle to break even and will 
 probably make a bigger-than-expected loss this year. This is primarily 
 due to the difficulty of maintaining enough Veg bag customers but is 
 also partly due to very late crops.

 The other barrier to our success is the lack of people prepared to take 
 on managing roles within the CSA. Under the current CSA structure, these 
 roles demand a large and regular time-commitment and so this lack of 
 enthusiasm is perhaps understandable. There are many key roles that are 
 currently not filled and this makes the CSA unsustainable in terms of 
 people capacity.

 As a result of these obstacles, the Management Committee are proposing 
 not to renew the contract to employ our grower that ends in Jan 2014. We 
 propose instead to purchase produce from Huw Evans and Martin Bradshaw, 
 two of the other independent growers forming part of Sheffield Organic 
 Growers  (SOGs - http://www.sheffieldorganicgrowers.co.uk.) SOGs 
 occupies the same field that Hazelhurst currently rents part of and some 
 of the bought-in veg for the veg bags already comes from these on-site 
 growers.  We hope that Huw and Martin will speak about SOGs at our AGM. 
 The growers are keen to allow us to maintain our interests in outreach 
 initiatives and we intend to continue to offer volunteers opportunities 
 to get involved with land-based projects and to keep the connection with 
 the land. We will employ a Veg bag Co-ordinator to handle all the veg 
 bag aspects of the Co-op.

 Making these decisions has of course been difficult but the Management 
 Committee feels this is the only viable option to ensure the CSA 
 continues to operate in the longer term.  We hope you will come to the 
 AGM to hear more about the proposal and to vote on the future direction 
 of your CSA. Elections of the Management Committee will also take place 
 at the AGM. The posts currently up for election are Treasurer and 
 Financial Planner but we would welcome anyone who wishes to join the 
 Management Committee without portfolio (without a specific role).

 Best Wishes
 The Hazelhurst CSA Management Committee