There is something about the dairy industry and co-operatives that has always seemed to go together. If you look at co-operatives in ICA’s Global 300 you notice that agricultural co-ops appear in almost every country represented in the list, with dairy co-ops being dominant within this grouping. However, things are changing in this highly competitive global industry. This week icanews.coop carried a number of dairy stories.

Global 300 co-operative up for sale

Firstly, Ninemsn, (in one of several items from various Australia media), reports that …Australian dairy and juice producer National Foods, owned by top Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings is interested in making a bid for milk and cheese producer Dairy Farmers, a source said on Tuesday… …Dairy Farmers, a farmers' cooperative formed in 1900 and based in New South Wales state, has long been considered likely to take part in a rationalisation of the sector because of the cost savings it could offer other large dairy players… Other organisations are also considered potential buyers of Dairy Farmers, including New Zealand’s Fonterra co-operative which has previously purchased another large Australian dairy co-operative, Bonlac and another Australian dairy co-operative, Murray Goulburn (Fonterra is No.26 in the ICA Global 300 index).

Dairy Farmers co-operative is currently a Global 300 co-operative, No 244 in the index. Once the purchase goes ahead, it will obviously drop out of the Global 300, either being lost to the co-operative world or possibly becoming a non-co-operative part of Fonterra, similar to the Bonlac acquisition or perhaps being (co-operatively) incorporated into Murray Goulburn. One lesson from the Australian experience is that if you lose the big and successful co-ops to demutualisation or takeover you lose not only outstanding examples to point to about co-operative success but also generations of co-operative resources which are lost to future co-op development. To see the leading role that Dairy Farmers co-operative has played in the Australian co-operative movement read Gary Lewis’ The Democracy Principle – Farmer Co-operatives in Twentieth Century Australia (2006, ISBN 0-646-46587-2, 440pp)