- Location
- Lincolnshire
No, they are back to where they were before buying space, just without the money.
Another farmer co-op goes under
- Thread starter warksfarmer
- Start date
No, they are back to where they were before buying space, just without the money.
Bossfarmer
Member
- Location
- between Perth and Inverness
just read it
just read it, lesson of the day do not invest in central storage!!!!, p.s 400k for a combine?? surely thats just list price?
- Location
- Lincolnshire
The lesson is to look a little deeper at what off farm storage suits your business and be careful who you go with. Wellgrain wasn't a co-op yet lots of farmers lost their own grain in Wellgrain's storage.
Yes, there are combines costing more than £400k retail price. I was quoted £410k a year ago for a Lexion 770TT. That's only the second biggest model in the Claas range...
What does it matter who bought the Angus store? There's no public knowledge of any rescue package offered to the Angus board by anyone who may include Openfield. Little comfort to an Angus member, but at least the store is owned by British farmer members of Openfield, not a faceless multinational whose shareholders live a long way away & certainly don't have your best interests at heart. If I was to trade with Openfield again the price would have to be right & I will be keeping an eye on they credit insurance rating just as I do for the other merchants I sell to. I'll invest in a UK co-op over a multinational if the business is sound & has the right management.
A good chunk of the food chain is owned by co-ops. Gleadell is half the French co-op Union Invivo. Cefetra is also owned by an European co-op. Arla and Fonterra are co-ops. Fengrain are still going strong. Asda started out as a group of farmers looking to add value to their milk.
- Location
- Darlington
Was going to say, a coop is only as good or as bad as it's management, like any other company. Must also say I would be nervous buying storage in one, just as I would be nervous buying an apartment, as I would have little control over maintenance charges.
All fair points. I'm not saying back a co-op regardless.
yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
Grain farmers under its then management took on Viking grain storage after Viking cereals went bust
Centaur took on the members of Viking cereals and helped administer the pool members under their management
Grainfarmer and centaur merged a few years later under the business model of centaur with main drivers of centaur
James Dallas had no involvement with Viking cereals Viking storage centaur or grain farmers at the time
There are many successful farming cooperatives in this country and the world too many to name
Cheese Milk and Grain marketing and grain storage only as well as imput
Imho The biggest issue with coops is how they deal with members who do not produce any more or with non member trading
yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
I agree totally
Storage coops need to geographically between the farmers and the end user be that port side or close to mills and processors
There are many members of storage coops who are happy especially when they can develop their farmyards
There is no difference in my view between a central storage coop or a farmer who stores grain for others or a merchants store they are all equally as good or bad as the management the wording of the agreement and contract is critical in the eventuality of a failure of any party
this is the point at that is the critical difference - CS stores are built with members capital, 3rd party stores or merchant stores are not
thats a BIG difference ............. ask a Viking or Angus famers that invested if you're still not sure what that difference means re that capital when the store goes bust
not bad conclusions - i'm not sure the word invest and CS should be allowed in the same sentence however, investments are usually made with intent to return profits not line yourself up for depreciation and running cost charges with a faint fear of bankruptcy due to the mismanagement of others always hanging over you
and yes - you can spend 400k on a combine these days !
Members were fully paid up
Can you add anything to this please? Lots of conjecture in this thread about Angus. Expenditure exceeding the income? Lose a grant application? Bad debt?
Another point on A.C.- members lost a lot more than their initial investment due to openfields pee poor marketing losing 10-15 quid for every tonne of grain put through the site.
It was the equivalent of an ill beast that needed shot.
Openfield 'owned ' 17000t of storage themselves and guaranteed the bank debt.
It was the equivalent of an ill beast that needed shot.
Openfield 'owned ' 17000t of storage themselves and guaranteed the bank debt.
Basically we had paid in what we were supposed to and there was still a massive debt to service. A.C. needed cash to cover and pay debt. Where could that come from except from members either in the form of more capital or members charges to create a profit.
Baling Hay
Member
I wouldn't say they would run UK agriculture, UK farmers do that.....
- Location
- Lincolnshire
At the end of the day, put your own shed up and only risk 1 load at a time.
Did the members vote against adding more capital/increasing members charges?
Where did the debt come from? Did the site cost more to run than expected?
Site cost a lot more to build than members and grant money paid in. Also expensive to run.
There was a members meeting before the administrator was called in and many options had been explored for getting a capital injection.