An Interview with HPC Board Member Karen Gill-Gerbig

Recently, HPC member Heidi Goar interviewed Karen Gill- Gerbig, who is serving her third term on our co-op’s board of directors.

Heidi: I’m going to conduct this interview in a rather unorthodox manner: I’ll ask about you and your board experience at the end of the interview, and start out with a more “sexy” topic: The Politics of Food. What do you think about America’s food situation?

Karen: It’s pretty interesting, especially with the major energy crisis we’re facing. The models for agriculture used by the federal government work best on a large scale. These models assume vast amounts of cheap energy to make them “cost effective.” But now these models are becoming difficult to sustain because of the costs of fuel.

We need to look at different models for agriculture. We need to produce and distribute foods closer to home, balance the costs of labor, healthy and safe production, and shipping, and charge a price to cover those costs. The price will be higher than the product shipped on the "salad bowl express" out of California’s Central Valley, but will it really cost any more than this large-scale system of food production and distribution that is heavily dependent on cheap and plentiful fossil fuels? Add in the environmental costs, and local foods seem like a deal.

Most co-op members understand that our environment is affected by all the things we do and the way in which we do them. I love pineapple and fresh vegetables in the winter, but what is the cost? Are there ways for these things to be produced locally, perhaps hydroponically, and be shipped only 60 miles instead of 1500 miles?

Food production is a very complex issue. What you produce and how you do it depends on the environment your farm is in—the terrain, the soils, the frost-free days, winter and summer temperatures. A family farm in Saskatchewan might look very different from one in Minnesota, Florida, or Pennsylvania.

But the federal models have abandoned “natural” criteria for “technical,” one-sizefits- all criteria. They support large, singlecrop fields, heavy fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide applications, and produce that ships long distances without bruising and will ripen en route or at the store.

Maybe with this fuel crisis, people will think about what balance they want in their food production and distribution. Would they accept foods grown closer to home, and only “import” foods in the winter? Would they consider local hydroponic production in winter or throughout the year? What is the energy needed to do these things? What are the tradeoffs?

HG: That’s a great answer to a complex question. Now, I want to ask you more specifically about co-ops. Why do you think people join co-ops?

KGG: I think some join co-ops to be part of a community that reflects their philosophies or beliefs. Some people join HPC because it is a volunteer co-op and they want to be involved in the store’s daily activities. Others belong because of certain foods that are sold, or their manner of sale, such as bulk or organic or local.

The scale of things is so enormous in our culture that it is good to have a small community such as the co-op that you can come back to.

HG: Would you say it’s an ideological statement to belong to a co-op?

KGG: For many people it definitely is. Others don’t think about it as deeply. It’s a store on the way home, it’s perceived as "funky," they can buy bulk or organic foods, or get a certain product that no one else carries. It’s interesting to ask folks why they are members; each has a unique and, many times, very personal answer.

HG: Tell me about yourself and your history with food.

KGG: I grew up in Skokie, just north of Chicago. My father immigrated to the States from rural Germany, and my mother grew up in Chicago. My parents shopped at small stores, where they knew the owners: green grocer, meat market, apothecary, delicatessens. When I grew up, Chicago was filled with those types of stores; each ethnic neighborhood had its own stores with favorite comfort foods.

Family friends were truck gardeners in Chicago, four miles from our suburban home. They raised produce, chickens, and eggs to eat and to sell. We bought eggs from them, and fresh vegetables. There used to be a lot of truck gardens but suburbia ate up all the land.

HG: What was your first experience with a co-op?

KGG: I moved here in 1970 for university and never left. My folks would come to visit and we would search for “real food” from “real stores.” The search for juniper berries to go into my dad’s homemade sauerkraut introduced me to Twin Cities co-ops. We found the berries at Tao Natural Foods. Then we found rye bread, and “decent” rye flour, and decent this and decent that. Red Star Herbs in Minneapolis had bulk peppermint tea. They were really hard core, left-wing, heavy duty—guerilla girls.

I knew Hampden Park Co-op was here and that I could get juniper berries and peppermint tea and spices here, but I didn’t join until 1993. And then I just got more and more involved and here I am. HG: Tell me about your experience on the Hampden Park Co-op board.

KGG: I am winding down on the third year of my third term on the board. My term ends in December of 2008.

It’s been an enormous education, and it’s always challenging and interesting. We’re a pretty hands-on board, but need to be, as we don’t have dedicated staff that work only with the board. We are volunteer and part-time, but dedicate lots of hours to our tasks. The board also has excellent staff support in our General Manager Helen DuFault and our assistant managers Kathy Vaughan and

Marcia Hanson, who work above and beyond their regular jobs to obtain the information and materials we need.

We each have our own tasks. For example, while Helen bids for and buys the walk-in cooler, the board considers the cost of the cooler, its uses, why we would buy it, where the money will come from, how that purchase and use fit into our co-op principles and our overall philosophy. It needs to fit our principles, and be cost-effective, so we can stay fiscally healthy. Needless to say, management and the board work closely together. We are so fortunate to have excellent management and staff to make HPC successful.