Brussels, 15/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - Farm supply cooperatives in Europe play a key role in ensuring that their members have access to the best possible services and inputs vital to farm production at a competitive cost, said Christian Pèes, President of COGECA, at a Business Forum on the farm supply sector held in Berlin on Thursday 15 May.
Farmers rely on farm supply cooperatives to ensure access to the best inputs such as machinery, fertilisers, feedstuffs and energy, he explained. Such effective support provided by farm supply cooperatives enables European farmers to “contribute to productivity growth and to meet major food supply and environmental challenges”, a press release explains. The COGECA president pointed out that in the face of increasing global competition, European farm supply cooperatives are often under additional pressure to offer farmers cost-effective solutions. “Farm supply cooperatives are rapidly expanding at international level and take advantage of the opportunities for growth within Europe as well as in emerging markets”, Pèes said. Over the next few years, European farm supply cooperatives will undertake more entrepreneurial activities in order to be successful, he concluded. (LC)