The focus for our 2007 conference was co-operation as a sustainable model of business enterprise. This includes not only economic, social and environmental considerations, but also issues of governance in terms of the long term survival and health of co-operatives as genuinely member-led organisations, especially at a time of consolidation and the creation of very large-scale co-operatives and mutuals.
Mary
Mellor from Northumbria University and Molly Scott Cato from UWIC in Cardiff
shared the first session,
exploring how green economics and sustainability link
with issues of ownership and control.
Margaret
Cliff, General Secretary of Country Market Ltd.,
outlined the extent of trading
underpinned by this nationwide network of local, co-operative producer markets.