Procedures for applying to become a Producer

1. Join the cooperative. Producer applications are only accepted from paid co-op members with a 4-digit membership ID number. At the bottom of the Six Rivers Market Registration form, check the box to indicate that you are interested in becoming a Producer and pay the PRODUCER Annual Membership Fee (or you can choose to pay the additional fee after trying out your Consumer Membership).

   After you submit your Registration form, you will automatically go to a Producer Registration form.  Just fill it out and submit. 
   
   PLEASE NOTE:  Your membership will be activated once both your Membership Application and Producer Applications are approved and we have received your membership fee. This process may take a few days, but we’re more than happy to help walk you through it—just call or email.  You will receive confirmation emails throughout the process.

2. If you are already a cooperative member, login and click on the Producer application form under Contact Information.
   
   
3. Your application automatically goes to the coop's Market Manager, who will review your application and contact you with any questions. The Market Manager may ask for more information, and may visit your farm or business before approving your application.
   
   
4. The Market Manager may make a recommendation to the Board of Directors regarding accepting your application to become a producer. The Board will vote on the application to approve it.
   
   
5. Producer members of the cooperative are required to follow all of our cooperative procedures, and must have a working email address.   Please read the Six Rivers Market Membership Handbook for all of the cooperative procedures.
   
   
6. As part of the application process, you or a representative of your farm or business must attend and volunteer at one delivery day within the first two months after your membership is approved for your products to continue to be sold through the cooperative.  This enables you to take ownership of being a member of Six Rivers Market cooperative and have a greater understanding of how Six Rivers Market cooperative functions.
   
   
7. If any licenses or certificates are required for your product (e.g. health department inspection certificate for a kitchen, organic certification number, etc.) we must receive a copy of those documents before approving your application. Copies of your current licenses or certificates should be mailed to Six Rivers Market, PO Box 255, Sandpoint, ID 83864.
   
   
8. The approval process can take up to 4 weeks to complete. If you are not accepted as a producer member and do not wish to purchase products through the coop, at your request we will cancel your membership and refund your membership payment.
   
   
9. By submitting an application to become a producer, you agree to our Terms of Service and these Producer Standards.

Before applying, please read through the following material to ensure that you understand the unique way that Six Rivers Market will market your products.


Producer Standards

Acting as an agent for producer members, the Six Rivers Market cooperative posts on the internet and publicizes the products its producer members have for sale within its marketplace of members. We receive orders, provide a way for products to be delivered between members of the cooperative, collect payment from the customers and forward the payments to the producers.  For some of our producer members, we are agents that facilitate farm gate sales of their products. For other producer members, we facilitate off-farm sales or sales of processed products.

Acting as an agent for customer members, we provide them a catalog of available local food products that includes information about how and where the product was grown or processed.  We receive their orders and notify the appropriate producers, arrange for the food to be delivered, receive and process their payments. For both producer and customer members, we provide a basic screening of products and producers based on our published parameters, and education and training regarding the use and the advantages of local foods and the core values of the cooperative.
The essential business of the cooperative is to provide a marketplace where willing buyers and sellers who are members of the cooperative can meet. Rarely does the cooperative ever have title to any of the products. The products that go through our distribution system are owned either by the producer, or by the customer who purchases "title" to the product from the producer. All producer members are responsible for reading and complying with the operating procedures of the cooperative.

The most efficient way for us to communicate is by the Internet.  We utilize email to contact all our members on a regular basis.  Please notify us when any of your contact information changes, but especially your email address.  When you join the cooperative, you will be assigned a user name and password so you can access the members-only pages of our web site. You will also be assigned a member number. All members will need to keep track of their member number, as well as their user name and password to login to the system.

Every potential producer must complete the Six Rivers Market Producer Registration Form providing information on their location, products, livestock, and practices. All Producer Registration Forms are subject to review by
Six Rivers Market for adherence to these standards. Producer Registration Forms must be kept current and reflect all items that the producer has for sale. An addendum shall be submitted when a producer offers new classes of products for sale.  Please contact the Market Manager for details.

To protect the integrity of our marketing system, Six Rivers Market reserves the right to verify via physical inspection, the production claims and geographic production location of products offered for sale through our marketplace.

Every producer member is responsible to know and be in compliance with all appropriate federal, state and local inspections, licenses, statutes and ordinances.  Producer members must also comply with any relevant health codes or agricultural laws regarding direct sales of farm and food products to the public. A copy of any licenses or certificates required for your business must be on file with the cooperative.  An excellent source for most of the guidelines set within the state of Idaho is the Rural Roots publication, “Protecting Your Farm or Ranch: A Guide for Direct Farm Marketing in Idaho.”  Six Rivers Market highly recommends that each producer has a copy of this guide, available through Six Rivers Market or directly through Rural Roots.

After a producer and his or her initial product list have been approved, the producer may add new products in subsequent months without having them approved in advance by the Standards Committee. However, the Standards Committee periodically reviews all products and may at any time question a producer about their compliance with our Standards. Products that do not meet our standards may be removed from the public price lists of the coop by the Standards committee.

The co-op does not automatically enter products in our database.  Producers get to market their own products by uploading information about each product they have available for sale.  However, the Market Manager must first update the product list before any additions and/or changes to products are made live and viewable on the website.  This live-update process will happen automatically every Friday evening, but if you have an urgent need for your product to be updated at some other point in the weekly order cycle, you can email your request to standards@sixriversmarket.org.

Producers set their own prices, and receive the full retail price they set for their products, less the cooperatives shipping and handling fee for producers (presently set at 6%). The charges the cooperative makes for its services are always under review in consideration of our expenses. The cooperative is not in a position to lose money on its operations, so the financial structure of the cooperative may be changed from time to time.

You may book orders in advance through our service. For example, meat producers may take orders for meat in advance of the actual dates the animals will be delivered, to allow appropriate time for processing of the meat or poultry. Vegetable producers can book sales for the following season from customers interested in larger amounts of produce, for example, people who do home canning may be interested in buying vegetables by the bushel, and this can be arranged in advance. However, there must be a product code for delivery of items purchased in advance so that our system prints the appropriate delivery label. If no additional money is to be collected for an item ordered in one month and delivered in another order cycle, create a product for "Delivery of (whatever the product is)", and give it a price of 0.00 (if you type that into the price field our system will accept it). The producer is responsible for emailing any customers who have products for delivery that month, and telling them to enter the product code for delivery for their product. The producer must notify the coop at the end of the customer order period of any customers who did not order that month or who did not enter the appropriate delivery code, who have products for delivery that month that were paid in a previous month. The coop will add the appropriate product codes to those invoices.

The cooperative will forward payment to the Producers for their products within three days after they are delivered on Delivery Day, if not on the day of Delivery, unless there are missing item tickets or an unresolved discrepancy in the amount you should be paid, as long as the cooperative has the working capital to do this. Six Rivers Market reserves the rights to refuse products that are not what customers ordered, or which are spoiled or contaminated, or otherwise not acceptable.

Six Rivers Market will collect and pay sales taxes on all taxable products sold through the network.   Producers need not worry about paying sales tax on items sold through Six Rivers Market.

Any customer complaints or requests for refunds or return of merchandise will be referred directly to the responsible producer and cc’d to Six Rivers Market.  Each producer will provide us a written statement of their policies for returns. In the event of a dispute between a customer and a producer, the matter shall be referred to an arbitration committee. One member shall be appointed by the customer, one by the producer, and one by the Six Rivers Market Co-op. In the event the dispute is between the producer or the customer and the Six Rivers Market Co-op, a similar procedure shall be used. The producer or customer will appoint a member, the co-op will appoint a member, and the two chosen arbitrators will then together choose a third person.

We will hold regular potlucks and other events which will feature locally produced and processed foods sold through Six Rivers Market. These potlucks will give our producers a chance to meet potential customers and showcase their foods and products.  Although it is not mandatory for our producers to attend these events, it will be highly beneficial to all members of the cooperative to get to know each other and be able to have hands-on contact with available products at these events.

These procedures are established to benefit the common good of the cooperative's members. The more members we have, the more critical it is that we achieve near 100% compliance with these procedures. This is necessary for the long-term sustainability of this business enterprise.


Products Sold:

Members of the Six Rivers Market Cooperative support local foods and products produced with sustainable practices that show good stewardship of the environment.  

Individual producers may only sell products they themselves have grown, processed or crafted. An individual producer may not buy wholesale from someone else and then retail the product through the Six Rivers Market cooperative, unless they are buying ingredients for further value-added processing. If ingredients are bought, the producer must add value to the product. Simply repackaging the ingredients is not adding value. (For example, you can sell tomatoes that you grow, but not tomatoes that you buy from someone else unless you buy the tomatoes and make salsa to sell through Six Rivers Market. As another example, you can buy flour or cornmeal and make bread or tortillas to sell, but you can't buy bread from someone else and sell it through Six Rivers Market).
Six Rivers Market will market local foods, agricultural products, and handcrafted non-food items produced within a 100 mile radius of Sandpoint, Idaho.  “Agricultural products” include whole produce, fresh cut flowers,* nursery stock,* and value-added products made from locally grown ingredients (such as soap made from local goats milk).  

Six Rivers Market will allow the following items, as long as they meet the specified standards:

• Raw or fresh fruits and vegetables and nuts in the shell.
• Meats and Dairy products processed in a USDA inspected plant.*
• Farm eggs.  A Panhandle Health Department License will be required and must be on file with Six Rivers Market. This is a new requirement made by Panhandle Health in 2009.  Please contact Panhandle Health directly at 208-265-6384 for further details and questions.
• Wild berries.
• Cultivated, domestically harvested mushrooms that are grown from an approved spore source.
• Factory-sealed, non-potentially hazardous foods from an approved source. Non-potentially hazardous foods are foods which are not perishable and do not have to be kept under refrigeration. Examples include canned soda, packaged potato chips, cookies, bread and candy.
• Processed foods produced in a Commercial Kitchen with the appropriate food handlers permits. All necessary license must be on file with Six Rivers Market.
• Nursery stock, fresh-cut flowers, and other whole agricultural products.
• Additional food and agricultural items, with approval from the Six Rivers Market standards committee.  Preference is given to products grown or given added value with the most sustainable methods possible and/or with as many local ingredients as possible.  When ingredients cannot be sourced locally, we encourage producers to seek out products grown using sustainable farming methods and fair trade and labor practices.   
• Locally produced non-food items.  Up to 30% of the total products sold through Six Rivers Market may be non-food items such as dried flower arrangements, timber products, fiber arts and so forth.  As with value-added food items, preference is given to products grown or given added value with the most sustainable methods possible and/or with as many local ingredients as possible.  When ingredients cannot be sourced locally, we encourage producers to seek out products grown using sustainable farming methods and/or fair trade and labor practices.   
• Products for sale through Six Rivers Market are accepted at the discretion of the Market Manager and/or the Board of Directors.

The Panhandle Health Department considers Six Rivers Market to be a grocer for food handling purposes.  We highly suggest that all potential producers contact Panhandle Health at 208-265-6384 to check on all necessary permits and licensing pertaining to selling food products via Six Rivers Market and other outlets.  In the end, you as a Producer will be held liable for the products that you sell.  We want to protect both our Producers and Consumers and will do all we can to help you.  Please contact us if you have a product that may be questionable and we may be able to work with you and the health department to make your product safely marketable through Six Rivers Market.

*Please read further under “Food Standards.” 

*Food Standards:
Beef, pork, lamb, goat (and other meat products where applicable) sold through Six Rivers Market cooperative must be processed in a USDA inspected plant. Poultry to be sold through the network must be processed in either a USDA inspected plant or a state licensed and inspected plant that operates under an on-farm exemption. Each package must have either a USDA or state approved stamp. The network shall not deliver meats processed by custom butchers whose packages are stamped, “Not for Sale”. Any meat packages brought to delivery day stamped "Not for Sale" will be returned to the producer.

Processed and prepared foods that are offered for sale shall be submitted with a complete list of ingredients. Ingredients that originate locally (within 250 miles of Sandpoint, ID) shall be noted. The producer should estimate the local content of the product. The list of ingredients must be included in the product description displayed at the co-op's website. Local ingredients should be used whenever available.

Customer members of the Six Rivers Market co-op support local foods produced with sustainable practices that show good stewardship of the environment. Consequently, they have a preference for organically or naturally produced foods that originate around Northern Idaho and will be much more likely to buy these foods, which they regard as superior to the foods offered by supermarkets.

Organic producers must be in compliance with the National Organic Program (NOP) and provide Six Rivers Market upon request a signed affidavit or a copy of their current certificate.  Producers who are not “certified organic” and who sell less than $5,000 of organic products annually can still use the term “organic” in their product labeling if they register with the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.  This annual registration currently costs $50 a year.

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