Middle-aged

The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op recently celebrated its 35th anniversary. I asked Julia Thomas, assistant marketing manager for education, how the Co-op has changed Sacramento’s food scene in the past three-and-a-half decades:“I think the most important thing we’ve done is focus on local farms and supporting organic agriculture and our local farmers, who are our heroes. They do so much to provide excellent food and take care of the land and preserve our local agriculture the way it’s supposed to be—keeping the culture in agriculture instead of agribusiness.

“One is Soil Born Farms, our most local farm in Sacramento. We partnered with them from the start and helped them get certification from customer donations and other fundraising efforts. A lot of the [other] organic farms started around the same time as the Co-op, like Full Belly and Good Humus. We’ve had a reciprocal relationship and grew the movement together.”