The roughly 25,000 member-owners of the three St. Paul-based Mississippi Market Co-ops and Stillwater-based River Market Community Co-op will vote this fall on a plan to merge the two organizations.

If approved by co-op members, the merger would “enable the expansion of access to healthy food, increase support for local farmers and help build a more resilient, sustainable community-owned food system,” according to a statement the organizations posted on social media.

Among the benefits: Stronger sourcing and buying power, continued expansion of community programming and partnerships and greater operational resilience and staff investment, the statement read.

Mississippi Market and River Market have independently served the metro area for nearly 50 years with “shared values of local ownership, environmental sustainability, access to organic, high-quality food and democratic cooperation,” they stated.

“By combining our resources and buying power, we can expand our positive impact while staying true to our values and cooperative mission,” said Sara Morrison, general manager of River Market Community Co-op.

Member voting will take place Sept. 12-Oct. 8 as part of each co-op’s annual election. For more information, go to BetterTogether.coop.

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