Ep 1419 Cooperating to Compete
About this episode
The episode discusses how farmers can cooperate to gain market power and become price makers instead of price takers.
Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson and... Sabrina Servais, Farmer, Hamburg Hills Farm, Stoddard, WI, Member, Organic Vallely Farm Coopertive & Elizabeth McMullen, PR Program Manager, Organic Valley Farm Cooperative When farming alone for a distant market, farmers tend to be price takers. But when cooperating with other farmers, they may gain enough clout to become price makers. And so we ask: How do farmers cooperate to become price makers instead of price takers? My first MetroFarm speaking engagement was a three-day seminar for family-sized dairy farmers in Drummondville, Quebec. The farmers were facing a fundamental change in their dairy industry, which was then being funded via government subsidies, but that would soon be forced to compete in the open market of the North American Free Trade Agreement against the industrial giants in the U.S. The organizer of the event, which took place in the snow-white of winter, wanted me to help the farmers find a way to survive the change. After listening to their fears of having to compete, without support from government subsidies, I suggested they consider establishing a marketing cooperative to differentiate their Quebec milk…
People in this episode
Host: Michael Olson
Guests: Sabrina Servais, Elizabeth McMullen
Topics covered
- cooperation
- farming
- price making
- marketing
- organic farming
Keywords
- farming
- cooperation
- price makers
- organic farming
- marketing cooperative
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Hamburg Hills Farm, Organic Valley Farm Cooperative
Places: Stoddard, WI
More episodes of The Food Chain
- Ep 1422
- Ep 1421 Start Up - Bread from Breadfruit?
- Ep 1420 Start-up Cookies - From Kitchen to Nation
- Ep 1418 Perils of Protein Powders
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