Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Prince Charles says co-op model can help save small farms

‘While there seems to be some deep-seated aversion to farmer co-operatives in this country, they work well in many parts of Europe’

With farmers facing a range of pressures – from climate change and Covid-19 to Brexit – the Prince of Wales has highlighted the value of the co-op model to help them survive.

Writing in the Guardian, Prince Charles said family farmers “form the backbone of our rural communities”, supplying high-quality food and helping to tend the countryside. 

But he warned that agriculture is entering a “massive transition” – and the country has already lost more than 110,000 smaller family farms since 1990.

“Most of these farms are run by one or two people,” he wrote. “Unlike the larger farms, they often don’t have the time or the resources to seek advice. The changes coming are huge and the way we help our farmers manage our soils, hedgerows and grazing livestock, and develop local supply chains, holds the key to biodiversity gain, carbon sequestration and water management, all of which are directly linked to our own health and wellbeing.

“I believe there is strength in numbers and have often thought the best way to secure a viable future for these smaller family farms would be for them to come together in some sort of co-operative. While there seems to be some deep-seated aversion to farmer co-operatives in this country (I have tried my best over the years to encourage and establish them, but to little effect), they work well in many parts of Europe. And new times demand new thinking.”

The Prince said that modern communication technology can help drive this co-operation, offering better connection to markets and to sources of advice. 

He added: “There are small farms the world over that could come together in a global co-operative committed to producing food based on the principles set out in my Terra Carta, a charter for nature, people and planet: high environmental standards, using native breeds – of animals and plants – producing healthy, nutritious food that enhances nature and the wellbeing of rural communities and consumers.

“With the skills of ethical entrepreneurs and a determination from the farmers to make it work, I would like to think it could provide a very real and hopeful future for a sector that to me should be celebrated and encouraged for its vital importance to food security, community security and cultural security.”