The Cooperators Podcast Episode 3 Daniel Smith, the Cooperative Network
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:04 — 44.0MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Listen to Daniel Smith talk about cooperatives in the states where his Cooperative Network operates – Wisconsin and Minnesota – and you might think this has to be the promised land. Just about every legislator knows about cooperatives. Most belong to some. Just about every citizen does similar – many belong to three or five or more.
But listen closely and what Smith is discussing are the crucial issues cooperatives just about everywhere face: the war for talent, the struggle for support in government, and life and death issues that ag co-ops in particular now struggle with.
Smith’s Cooperative Network is a fascinating organization. It represents co-ops from 12 different sectors – everything from some of the nation’s largest ag co-ops to small Union Cab, a worker owned transportation company in Madison.
They seem diverse – they are diverse – but, said Smith, their cooperative foundation means they have more in common than might initially meet the eye.
Give Smith a listen and you just may hear a blueprint for how to fight for and win more respect for co-ops everywhere, not just the upper midwest. It’s an inspiring talk.
Like what you are hearing? The Cooperators Podcast seeks sponsors and supporters to help us spread the word about cooperatives and how they often are the better way. Contact Robert McGarvey to find out what you can do to sustain this podcast.
