Co-operation and Collaboration – The Benefits of Working Together

The benefits of co-operation are well-evidenced.  Co-operation involves farmers and others, working together to achieve a commercial objective, which they cannot achieve independently and individually. Through co-operation, members help themselves, pro-actively taking responsibility for generating value and sustainable services in which they have a common purpose.

To showcase the benefits of increased co-operation and collaboration we have brought together a range of expert speakers and farmers actively participating some form of co-operation to share their experiences.

The Benefits of Working Together webinar will be chaired by Kerry Allison from SAC Consulting. Our guest speakers are: Anna Robertson, Project Manager, SAOS, who are the experts on co-operation and supply chain collaboration; Hector Munro, Foulis Farms, Ross-Shire, discussing the benefits of sharing machinery and Caroline Black, Backboath Farm, Arbroath,  on forming an agrochemical buying group (Black Agri Services).

The focus of this first webinar is  informal co-operation and neighbouring, which has always been a feature of the farming community. Whilst perhaps less popular than in the past, neighbouring is a great route to share resources, reduce costs, save time, make lives easier and build relationships in a community.  It makes sense on so many levels, not least for social reasons, wellbeing and on safety grounds.

There are numerous informal co-operation models (e.g. benchmarking groups) being created all the time.  This is an opportunity to hear from those involved in practice, why they did it, how they make it work and the lessons they have learned along the way.