Your Food Co-op in a Shifting Marketplace

 Jan Rasikas, General Manager

Inside the co-op, our team is closely monitoring the evolving landscape of tariffs and their impact on food prices. Even with delayed tariffs, many of our suppliers have raised prices in anticipation. We monitor updates from many sources to help us understand how these changes affect our food co-op.

We’ve learned, for example, that one of the country's largest grocery chains stated it would not accept any cost increases from suppliers due to tariffs. In other words, food producers must absorb the cost of new tariffs. This is a common tactic among large corporate retailers who use their purchasing power to demand the lowest possible prices. Suppliers, in turn, often pass those costs along to smaller, independent grocers, creating price disparities that make it harder for local businesses to compete.

Over time, this dynamic contributed to the decline of independent grocery stores and the emergence of what used to be called food deserts, now often referred to as LILA communities - Low-Income, Low-Access as designated by USDA. These exist in both urban and rural areas, and they arise when big-box chains outcompete local businesses, leaving communities with limited options.

As shoppers, we’re often drawn to the illusion of low prices, but we must ask: at what cost? The pursuit of cheap food benefits corporate profits while weakening local economies and undermining long-term food access. When the focus is solely on price, things like nutrition, ethical sourcing, and food safety can suffer.

The dominance of big-box retailers isn’t solely the result of consumer choice; it’s also a product of federal policy. A turning point came in the 1980s when the Reagan administration stopped enforcing the Robinson-Patman Act, a law designed to prevent suppliers from offering better prices to large buyers at the expense of smaller ones. The decision to halt enforcement paved the way for the rapid rise of chains like Walmart, Target, Costco and others. Neighborhood grocers and small, locally-owned grocery chains couldn’t complete on this uneven playing field and many closed their doors.

But not all is lost. Viroqua Food Co+op is built on a different foundation. We’re organized, capitalized, and governed differently, by our owner-members and for our community. Through our National Cooperative Grocers partnership, we gain purchasing strength while staying true to cooperative values. This allows us to provide access to nourishing food you can trust. Large grocers can’t and won’t source food the way we do. They can’t absorb the tighter margins or devote the labor needed to bring truly local food to their shelves. At the co-op, we don’t just talk about local - we deliver it. Last year, co-op owners and shoppers purchased $4 million in products produced within 100 miles of VFC.

At 30 years strong, VFC is now the oldest thriving, independently owned grocery store in Viroqua - which is something to celebrate.

Thank you for being part of what makes your co-op extraordinary.