Page 5 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Changing models worth looking at for pork businesses
WITH 2020 arguably a year like no other and la- belled by some as ‘annus horribilis’, there’s no better time than now to look at how we do busi- ness in the pig and pork business.
better buying power for feedstock or on the de- mand side by downstream processing or accessing markets and distribution,” Greg said.
nomically viable.
But the purpose of a co-
create and return value to growers.
6. Cooperation among co-operatives
Cant
Comment
by BRENDON CANT
Meanwhile, our domi- nant big two vertically integrated producers and processors, Rivalea and SunPork, go along on their merry ways – albeit Rivalea seems to still be up for sale, with moderate interest expressed at a price tag of circa $100 million, almost half what QA F was supposedly chasing a couple of years ago.
1. Voluntary membership
So, in the spirit of coop- eration, I’m happy to put any producers or others in touch with ‘envoy Greg’.
ponder the business models the pork industry opt for when recently chatting to Greg Wall – an envoy for what’s known as the Co-operative Farming project, which recently launched its ‘Blueprint for future proofing Aussie farmers’.
global peak body for co- operatives.
4. Autonomy pendence
training
He is also chair of the ICA Audit and Risk Com- mittee.
So, let’s now cut to the chase and see what the Co-operative Farming Project blueprint had to say.
They have enabled groups of farmers and other producers to pool resources, minimise input costs, maximise the value of products and share profits from value-added processing, distribution and sales to consumers.”
5. Education, and information
“The big idea is indi- vidual farmers benefit from collaborating to- gether to tackle the busi- ness problem for the ben- efit of all and not a third- party investor business.
Co-operatives repre- sent producers’ desire to achieve fair payment for their labour and other in- vestments.
These are:
and open
member economic and inde-
These principles seem reasonable, aspirational and achievable if like- minded people get to- gether.
“The profits stay with farmers and the farming community and not, for example, with an ASX listed company.”
3. Member participation
Meanwhile, warm wishes for the 2020 fes- tive season and may we all work cooperatively in 2021.
operative is not simply profitability, but also long-term benefit to mem- bers and the community.
The CBH Group sup- ports the seven co-opera- tive principles, the values by which co-operatives operate.
7. Concern for commu- nity.
Many agricultural co- ops were created to supply farmers with goods and services of the required quality at competitive prices.
2. Democratic control
Indeed, a September 8 post under Latest News on Rivalea’s website states, “The owner of Rivalea, QAF Ltd – a company listed on the Singapore Exchange – is pursuing the sale of Rivalea.
He is chair of the Mar- garet River Wine Asso- ciation.
For more information, please email QAF’s ex- clusive financial advisor, Rabobank at rivalea@ra bobank.com”
Greg believes in the strength of this collabo- rative model to help se- cure the future of agri- culture in Australia and help farmers best tackle the challenges of COVID- 19, bushfires, drought and volatile trading relation- ships.
He has held a variety of relevant directorships, including Co-operatives WA, Cuscal Limited, Edith Cowan Univer- sity, Automotive Hold- ings Group and Home Building Society Limited.
“Co-operatives are similar in many ways to other companies in terms of limited liability and the objects and powers em- bodied in the structure, but different in that the business is democrati- cally owned and con- trolled by members not shareholders.
It seems to me that co-operatives could be propelled into a greater role in the pork industry by, among other things, protecting market share in feed, offering a co- operative alternative to existing marketing chan- nels and establishing bulk buying, price friendly systems for equipment and services.
With a few industry pun- dits regularly arguing that smaller producers mostly and bigger producers occasionally are far too reliant on and, even be- holden to, what the big two say and do in terms of sourcing, contracting and pricing, it strikes me that a co-operative model might just tip the scales more in favour of the farmers who produce and grow the pork.
He informs me there are 229 agricultural co-ops in Australia, including 24,000 individual busi- nesses.
Greg chaired the Aus- tralian International Year of Co-operatives Secre- tariat, led the formation of the Business Councils of Co-operatives and Mu- tuals in Australia and was a BCCM director.
Members elect a board of directors for the co-op and may provide share capital to fund the co-op’s operations and business development.
I was reminded to
Co-operative Farming project envoy Greg Wall AM is former Group CEO of Capricorn Society Ltd and is currently a director of the International Co- operative Alliance, the
“The need could be on the supply side such as
Like any business, co- operatives must be eco-
Owned and controlled by almost 4000 Western Australian grain growing businesses, its core pur- pose is to sustainably
Greg Wall, Co-operative Farming project envoy.
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Australian Pork Newspaper, December 2020 – Page 5
Admittedly, Greg came to me with his own barrow to push, accompanied by his impressive curriculum vitae.
Greg explained that as for any business model, co-operatives are formed to satisfy a pressing busi- ness need – the difference with a co-operative is that farmers are collaborating to address the need and in turn benefitting from the financial success of the business.
Ideally, farmers sup- port the co-operative with their business, invest in it, nourish a bond of asso- ciation and uphold equi- table, democratic princi- ples, which emphasise the importance of the collec- tive interests of the co-op.
Indeed, my home state of Western Australia is base to Australia’s largest co-operative CBH Group, which was formed in 1933 and is Australia’s largest grain exporter.