Keith Neu needs only a couple words to explain why he signed himself up for the latest incarnation of Prairie farm co-ops. The same words, he later tells me, explain why the move makes solid business sense for his farm. I could do everything, says the Hudson Bay, Sask. farmer. But not well.
Today, Neu sells his grain through the farmer-owned Farmer Direct co-operative, a Regina-based organic co-op that represents about 70 farm families who produce everything from beef, pork and poultry to small grains.
Four years ago Neu signed on because he was taking his farm in a new direction, marketing beef, poultry and garden produce directly to families in Regina and Saskatoon, the province s two largest population centres.
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The community agriculture model works for the Neu operation, which Keith runs near Hudson Bay with his wife Monica, but it s a way of farming whose commitment to customers can become a major time killer.
I suddenly had so much to do that I just couldn t spend that much time marketing grain, Neu says.
For the challenging organic grain market, making a sale could mean calling a dozen buyers repeatedly throughout the winter, finally striking a deal, then waiting months for payment to arrive, if it did at all. It was risky, finicky and generally a pain, Neu says. By comparison dealing with the new farmer co-op was decidedly low impact.
They do the marketing and handle the logistics for a set price about six per cent off the top and carry on from there, Neu says. In return I know that the people I m dealing with are honest, above board and they ll pay me when they say they re going to.
A REAL BUSINESS
I can almost hear Jason Freeman rolling his eyes over the telephone.
Freeman is the general manager of the Regina-based Farmer Direct Co-operative, an alliance of organic farmers who market their products worldwide through the organization.
The question I ve posed is a straightforward one: Why is there a perception that co-operatives are some sort of socialist structure that has no place in business?
I don t know how people equate democracy with socialism, Freeman shoots back. These are hollow words now. What do they even mean anymore?
Freeman insists that Farmer Direct is a voluntary association of smart business people who see value in working together to make all of their operations more viable, resilient and successful.
I think many of the things we re doing are incredibly entrepreneurial, Freeman says.
Neu backs up the co-op manager s assessment with some numbers that are hard to argue with.
If it s not a real business, then what is it? They do between $3 million and $5 million in sales annually, depending on the year, Neu says. They re making a living from it, the farms that are members are making a living that s got to be a business.
Farmer Direct is an interesting business model set up to exploit the disconnect between the emerging food culture of North America s urban centres and how food is thought about on the continent s farms. It s a bridge-building exercise, and Freeman is a living example of a new generation of bridge builders.
Freeman is a transplanted Vancouverite who formed an organic food company with a partner in the late 1990s. They quickly discovered that while their customers might live right next door, many of their suppliers
