Leading UK farmers’ cooperative wins Anglian Business Award
6th July 2012
AtlasFram Group, the UK’s foremost farmer-owned cooperative, has triumphed at the 2012 Anglian Business Awards, winning the ‘Medium to Large Business’ category. Open to any business with an annual turnover exceeding £5 million and which can demonstrate enterprise, commitment to staff and corporate social responsibility, the Award was presented at a gala dinner attended by over 300 guests in Ipswich, Suffolk.
Established in 1960, the Suffolk-based AtlasFram Group is a highly-successful farmer-owned cooperative with an annual turnover of £168 million and an exceptionally strong balance sheet. The business provides its 1250 Members, who collectively farm more than 300,000 hectares, with a professional, impartial and reliable farm inputs purchasing and crop marketing service. Due to its impeccable reputation, AtlasFram attracts professional arable and livestock farmers from all over the UK who recognise the value of belonging to a large, expertly-managed cooperative which operates entirely on their behalf.
Membership of AtlasFram saves arable farmers £15 - £75/hectare on their input costs, while dairy farmers benefit from a saving of 1–1.5 pence per litre in production costs. In addition, Members save time and money on administration because all farm requirements can be sourced with a single ‘phone call or email to AtlasFram, which issues a single monthly invoice showing all transactions.
In addition to financial savings on a wide range of farm inputs, Members also benefit from access to AtlasFram’s Product Specialists. Working solely in the best interests of the farmer shareholders, they provide expert advice on a wide range of farming-related issues, suggest when to place orders to obtain the best prices in volatile markets and ensure that products are delivered on time, to the right location.
AtlasFram Group has demonstrated real innovation in developing a range of new alliances, products and services. Two years ago, for example, it took a major step forward by establishing a unique marketing alliance with ADM Direct, the purchasing arm of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), one of the world’s major millers and oilseed rape crushers. Members have already benefited from the best marketing information, new initiatives such as the Targeted Marketing Scheme and various variety-related premiums, while AtlasFram pools have provided protection against extreme price movements and delivered significantly higher returns than many competitors. The Group’s pool tonnage commitment has subsequently increased from 80,000 to 150,000 tonnes due an excellent track record and a committed marketing strategy.
Members have also benefited from two new oilseed rape marketing contracts with ADM Direct. The first offers an additional £15/tonne premium over normal quality premiums for standard double-zero oilseed rape, for the next five years and is available to Members whose farms are certified by Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF), of which AtlasFram Group is a corporate member. The second offers a premium of up to £35/tonne for High Oleic, Low Linolenic (HOLL) oilseed rape, in addition to standard oilseed rape quality bonuses.
AtlasFram Group operates a unique Machinery Purchasing Scheme which is the most successful of its type in the UK, enabling farm businesses to enjoy significant rebates on a wide range of agricultural equipment, over and above the discounts they negotiate with an official UK dealer. AtlasFram is the only organisation able to offer access to the most preferential terms on Case IH equipment as part of the largest fleet deal in Europe.
Following the demise of the Farming & Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), a national organisation which promoted environmentally-responsible farming, Suffolk FWAG became part of the AtlasFram Group at the start of 2012. Operating as an independent farmer-led, not-for-profit organisation, Suffolk FWAG employs six staff and delivers a valuable service to 440 farmers, including 133 AtlasFram Members.
AtlasFram Group, which recently launched a new website that is the most advanced of its type, is a keen supporter of the local community and charities. It sponsors a number of Young Farmer events throughout the year, including the Suffolk Farms Competition in conjunction with the Suffolk Agricultural Association, as well as working very closely with Young Farmer Clubs to support the next generation of farmers. On 14th July 2012 AtlasFram staff will raise money for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution and Cancer Research by undertaking the grueling Three Peaks Challenge.
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Commenting on the Anglian Business Award, AtlasFram Group’s Chief Executive Richard Anscombe states:
“We are delighted that our vision and strategy of being the UK’s foremost farmer-owned purchasing and marketing cooperative, delivering the best service and information, supported by the best value and advice, has been recognised by the wider business community. It demonstrates what can be achieved by a highly committed, talented, professional and flexible team of individuals who work closely together. Operating within a very enterprising corporate environment, they are empowered and invested in to take the business forward for the benefit of our farmer shareholder Members, who regard us an extension of their own business.
“We believe that the AtlasFram Group will fulfil an expanding role within the agricultural industry and become ever more important to its Members. The UK is now just a small part of a global marketplace and our domestic agricultural sector is becoming less important to increasingly-large international suppliers and end-customers. To remain competitive, farmers will increasingly have to work together through a strong, stable cooperative which purchases the inputs they require, achieves the best returns for their combinable crops and provides the impartial advice they need to operate profitably.”
Further details about AtlasFram Group are available at www.atlasfram.co.uk
ENDS
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Further press information is available from:
Julian Cooksley, Kendalls Communications
T: 01394 610022 E: julian.cooksley@kendallscom.co.uk
Digital images are available from:
Kerry-Anne Rookyard, Kendalls Communications
T: 01394 610022 E: kerrry-anne.rookyard@kendallscom.co.uk
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