Episode 47

full
Published on:

21st Jan 2026

Where are all of BC's Cooperative Grocers?

This episode, a conversation about the Kootenay Co-op, a Nelson based, co-operatively owned, 21000 square foot grocery store that turns 50 this year, and which spent four million dollars last year purchasing products from farmers and processors in the Kootenay region. My guest is Amanda Verigin, who joined me to tell me about the store’s beginnings as a bulk food buying club in 1975, and how the co-op impacts, and is impacted by, a food system dominated by a handful of giant, vertically integrated grocery behemoths.

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About the Podcast

Farming in British Columbia
Interviews with BC-based farmers, food processors, academics and others who contribute to food production in BC in one way or another.

About your host

Profile picture for Jordan Marr

Jordan Marr

I'm Jordan Marr, a farmer and broadcaster in BC's North Okanagan. My farm business is called Unearthed Organics, where I produce milling corn and dry beans on a small-scale. I currently produce and host this podcast as well as The Organic BC Podcast & The Ruminant Podcast. I also produce a regular segment on food and farming in the southern interior for CBC Radio's Daybreak South, based in Kelowna. I live with my wife and two kids in Vernon.