17 Feb 2016
With the discussion about development of new industries in Northern Australia and the announcement that Queensland Senator Matt Canavan as Minister for Northern Australia we look forward to a renewed focus on how to maximize these opportunities for the agriculture sector. Financing new ventures must be considered as a major part of this discussion.
The challenges associated with managing and operating your own farming business in Queensland are well documented. Difficulties such as drought, environmental management, debt management and succession planning all weigh heavily on our minds from time to time. Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) and its industry members have and continue to spend considerable time and resources in improve the way the sector as a whole remains resilient to such challenges.
Perhaps it’s time however we took another look at the benefits of farming co-operatives. That is what a food and agribusiness consultant presented to QFF. Farming cooperatives or ‘co-ops’, as they were known as were once a common feature in the Australian agricultural landscape, however in years appear to have fallen by the wayside. There are now a growing number of groups suggesting a new look at cooperatives and other new ways of farmers working together, such as equity partnerships.
Internationally there are examples of cooperatives operating with considerable success such as Flora Holland, Danish Crown and the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives in the US with other 3,000 cooperatives as members. We can even look closer to home for examples of farm cooperatives such as Murray Goulburn, Norco and Sunrice.
QFF is not advocating that cooperatives are the answer to all of agricultures varied problems, rather asking that we keep an open mind to new or reinvented business models. If Queensland farmers and industry are serious about rising to the new challenges high value niche markets in Asia are offering, perhaps it time we reassessed the way we attracts the investment we need to move the sector forward. A recalibration of how we conduct business to ensure we have the capital to invest in the technologies that will drive our industry into a new prosperous era is surely worth a closer look.
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