Woldmarsh Producers celebrates 60th Anniversary 20 Jul
It’s a special kind of business that is able to celebrate its 60th year and be able to say that it is confidently looking forward to the future. Its special because it is all to do with people. Set up by farmers for farmers, it has grown from 12 initial shareholders to todays 1200 shareholders and still growing.
The attraction of a co-operative is that like-minded people can combine their effort, enthusiasm, and common objective, to pull together in the same direction and deliver something better than the sum of their parts. In a world where farming and farmers can seem isolated and without help, Woldmarsh is one of the few organisations that can offer practical assistance to enable hard pressed people to see the way forward clearly.
There are no shortage of people and organisations offering their advice and recommendations. With Woldmarsh, there is one significant difference, we have no commercial gain to cloud the message. A true not for profit organisation, that will at times say when the market indications are as much about not buying as times when the market indicates you should.
An organisation that can identify where you should go to buy crop inputs as much as your building materials or spare parts and to be able to talk to someone who spends their working life in those sectors, makes the group a one stop shop for everything you are likely to need to buy for the farm.
Its also a measure of the fact that over 1000 farms can use the services Woldmarsh offers in the way that meets the needs of their business. No farm operates in exactly the same way. The farmer, their family members, farm secretaries or professional guidance from such as agronomists all have their own preferred way of working. Consequently, Woldmarsh, has the option for you to place orders through the office electronically, via the phone or sometimes directly when a member calls in at the office. On the other hand, calling in at your local builders’ merchant so you can see what you need and placing your item on your Woldmarsh account, works just as well for many.
There is not much over the last 60 years that we have not been able to source. If we didn’t have an arrangement with somebody to buy something, we will have gone out of our way to find where you could go, even if it means we will not supply it, it’s all part of the service.
Most of the staff have a connection with agriculture. That might be family, their educational establishment or even still work partly on family farms. We understand the pressures that farmers are under and more to the point often know and anticipate what our members need before they have met it. Individual commodities, payment schedules, informed market commentary or just a friendly voice at the end of a phone when you don’t know what to do or just need a chat to lighten the mood for the day.
Whatever you need, it's your co-op, the farmers buying group. Its Woldmarsh.
