Co-op Support Service

Co-operatives Support Service

Co-operation helps farmers and crofters by allowing them to share risk, reduce their costs, increase resilience, share learning and experience, and benefit from economies of scale in terms of sales and purchasing, helping manage uncompetitive markets by boosting their negotiating power. This can improve the profitability, efficiency, and resilience of their farmer and crofter members’ businesses, as well as providing knock-on economic advantages for Scottish agriculture, and the public benefits that follow from communities working together – enabling rural communities to thrive.

These advantages and benefits are not guaranteed however and, like any type of business, co-ops face difficulties. They can be set up in challenging circumstances and are run and governed with varying levels of competence. We at SAOS want to maximise the benefits of co-operation by supporting the set-up and effective running of co-operative businesses. We want government support to realise the benefits of a diverse and resilient agricultural sector through co-operation.

We would like to see a programme that:

• Reflects the scale and importance of agri co-ops in Scotland.
• Improves the Scottish agricultural sector’s understanding of what co-operation is, and how it helps manage uncompetitive markets and supports rural communities.
• Provides a combination of one-to-many awareness raising, information provision activities, and one-to-few business support activities.

We believe policy programme development can achieve this, supporting co-operatives, and other collaborative business models through:

• Awareness raising, to support a more enabling environment

  • Improving farmer and crofter awareness, understanding, and ultimately participation in co-operative businesses.
  • Raising awareness and understanding within sectors and the marketplace.
    
    

• Supporting the establishment of individual new businesses

  • Working with groups thinking about setting up a new business, to help them consider its feasibility and viability so new businesses have the best chance of success.
  • Registering the business, providing a set of ‘Rules’, and establishing a governance structure.
  • Providing a knowledgeable Company Secretary for the critical first year of the business to establish good business governance.
    
    

• Supporting the effective governance of established businesses

  • Improving governance through director development activities.

We would welcome further discussions on how we can help support the development of this policy programme.

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