The Co-op philosophy is premised on a number of related facts:

* There are compassionate individuals that want assurance the meat they consume comes from humanely raised animals.

* There are educated consumers interested in purchasing food that has been naturally raised under environmentally sensitive conditions without the use of antibiotics, steroids, growth hormones or other chemical additives.

* There is a growing movement away from industrialized commercial food factories and toward the return of the family farm.

* There is a desire to purchase directly from the farm, to understand where and how the food on the table has been produced, and to support the local economy.

* There is increasing concern that the vast majority of poultry products are derived from birds intensely selected for industrial production, resulting in a commercial poultry gene pool devoid of diversity and vulnerable to disaster.

The Co-op Intent:

1. To provide concerned consumers with a reliable source of good quality, humanely raised meat and poultry products.

2. To provide predictable revenue streams with minimal overhead to help sustain the local production of naturally raised chemical free livestock.

3. To provide direct links between consumers and producers to foster a personal connection with the food they eat and the land upon which it was produced.

4. To strengthen local economies by keeping food dollars within the community.

5. To encourage the establishment of heritage poultry breed gene pools that can provide genetic diversity and long term breed viability.