A Farmers’ cooperative in Cornwall has attracted attention from across the globe following rapid growth with the support of a state of the art computer system.

Cornwall Farmers Ltd was established in 1921 and serves farms, rural communities and towns across Cornwall and Devon. It ishas a network of retailFarm and Country stores throughout stocking a range of products for all farm and rural pursuit requirments. The company used Objective One EAGGF (European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund) investment to install an £800,000 IT system, from Cal Software Ltd, to streamline operations.
Chief Executive Andrew Cocks explained: “This was the biggest challenge in the cooperative’s 80 years or so of life. We had about 13 different IT systems – different ones for each business that had been acquired over the years. We saw we needed to address the sales function, to train people, to look at logistics of transport and warehousing and then expand into property management and development, procurement and supply chain development and better marketing.

“We realised you could not do any of this unless you invested in the infrastructure at the beginning. With Objective One support the IT project has been the common denominator around everything we have done since. Before we started the project we had about 220 people on the payroll now we have 350, we have been able to carry out an acquisition of Countrywest Trading Limited West Devon and there is a lot more potential out there.”

The success has been so visible that cooperatives from Wales and other parts of the UK have visited, the English Food and fFarming pPartnership (EFFP) is using Cornwall Farmers as a case study and Mr Cocks has been invited to Malawi to talk about how the business works.

He added: “The Curry report on sustainable agriculture noted that where farmers have strong cooperatives GDP is demonstrably higher. We are now stronger than ever before.”