And while it may have been a long time coming now the option of co-operative power has arrived it is catching on very quickly.
For the past 16 years Ceilidh and Charles Meo have been working with small scale growers to produce their own olive oil.
Operating a small batch processing service on their farm in central Victoria, which handles harvests of between 50kg and 200kg, they have seen a lot of turnover in the ownership of groves in their sector.
But they could see it was time to do something different – something which recognised good things really do come in small packages even if big is often better.
And the capitalise on both.
Enter The Long Road Olive Co-op Ltd, which recognises the olive industry has participants of all sizes, shapes and colours – from the commercial heavyweights to the passionate and invested small scale backyard and hobby growers.
The Meos says this has always been the challenge – while competition is good for consumers, it can be discouraging when so many small growers are competing for the local and domestic markets.
They say many in the small-scale sector don’t have access to the capital to increase the efficiency of their harvest and processing activities, and that simply adds to the cost of goods sold.
“Marketing is also a skill to be learnt and for many farmers, it’s an additional time sink which takes them away from the everyday activities involved with growing their olives,” Ceilidh says.
“Drawing on the 450-strong customer list we have been building since 2009, the call went out to find interested people to design a co-operative business,” she says.
“The Long Road Olive Co-op Ltd is the result; a growers’ co-operative working specifically with small scale growers with up to 3000 trees under management to increase their productivity and profitability.”
Ceilidh says this is achieved through collaborative processing and marketing of traditional and new olive products, grower education and events, providing an equipment and labour hire service, and discounted bulk purchasing for farm and household inputs.
She says the team can also work alongside small growers or provide a done-for-you service to manage your grove.
“The co-op’s activities allow you to do what you do best, while they get on with selling your product,” Ceilidh explains.
“While the co-op is establishing a new brand for olive products, for small scale growers who already have a brand, there is no requirement to give that up,” she says.
“Growers can still be a co-op member; the aim is to leverage a strength-in-numbers approach to tell a story to customers that their single purchase can support many farmers at once.”
As a co-operative, growers are members and owners of the business and have full say in how the organisation operates.
The interim board of directors will hold their positions until the first AGM, which is scheduled for September this year. At this time, any members of the co-op who would like to serve as directors for a three-year term will be able to nominate for an election.
For membership application forms, a full description of the co-op member value proposition, and the co-operative rules document, go to www.lroc.org.au.
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