Co-operative FarmingWelcome back to the podcast series from the farming front line. Meet the Co-op Farmers. It’s our second season and this time we’re going wider and digging deeper to uncover more great stories of co-operation in regional Australia. We’ll not only be talking to the farmers, fishers and foresters who put the food on our table and get the wood to the mill. We’re going to look at what’s driving a rediscovery and take up of this tried and tested model of doing business together. Along the way, you’ll meet people across our rural communities working together to overcome disasters and crisis and plan for a better future. It’s truly inspiring.
Cootamundra resident Leigh Bowden shares with Michael Cavanagh the current progress of the Cootamundra District Co-op, as well as the highs and lows involved in pioneering a co-op.
It’s our second season and this time we’re going wider and digging deeper to uncover more great stories of co-operation in regional Australia.
Marquis Macadamias CEO Larry McHugh takes us on a fascinating farming journey on the far north coast of Australia.
From the end of tobacco farming to innovative reinvention, the Tobacco & Associated Farmers Co-operative Organisation (TAFCO) has seen huge change over the years
Emma’s massive 55,000-hectare farm is based in the remote area of Charters Towers but she is a big believer that farmers who share insights, knowledge and work together can thrive, even in such isolated environments.
The biggest blueberry supplier in Australia formed out of a different fruit, with a reluctant leader from a completely different business. And it thrived.
A job offer at local football game led to Rodger Long helping to form one of the most innovative fishing co-operatives in the nation.
Farming can be a risky business, swinging from feast to famine, drought to flooding rains. But CBH, one of the biggest in the world, has managed high consistent results for its members for more than 85 years.
“When disaster strikes and you can’t see another way out, people become very innovative,” says Sweeter Banana’s Doriana Mangili on how a ‘lunchbox banana’ saved their co-operative farms – despite a stack of geographic and weather circumstances conspiring against them.