Cooperative Development Program

GENEX's strategic approach to the Cooperative Development Program is simple: in meeting their common needs, farmers can accomplish more together than they can alone. However, in many instances, farmer organizations lack the capacity to effectively apply the cooperative business model to meet their members’ needs or mitigate their risks. The solution: livestock producers and their cooperatives can improve their profitability, productivity, resilience, and hence, their compet-itiveness and sustainability in the marketplace if given access to expertise, mentoring and advice — and they use it. Based on its on-the-ground observations, quantified, evidence-based outcomes, and the significant, unmet need and calls for sup¬port from government stakeholders, industry partners, and local cooperatives for assistance. GENEX's local, hands-on experience, the potential for growth among smallholder farmers and nascent cooperatives exists. Cooperatives have the aspirations, attributes, common vision and committed member¬ship that are critical and foundational for success, but they will not succeed without a helping hand. GENEX's strategy is a holistic, common sense, business-driven approach to helping farmers operate strong commercial-scale businesses. Only when cooperatives and their members fully take advantage of their strengths, understand and address their weaknesses, and can depend on themselves will they be able to achieve the financial rewards that come from operating stable businesses where they are consistently able to meet the demand for volume, consistency, quality and product diversity. The programs overall goals are to: 1) Strengthen and expand the number and value of multiyear commercial transactions—sales, contracts, product lines, capital, joint ventures—where there had been none or few before, and 2) Develop market linkages with business, industry, government, firms and associations. Cooperatives that are open to learning, willing to adapt and which are ready to operationalize the Strengthening Farmer Cooperative Competitiveness strategies find that they dramatically improve their capacity to enter, stay and expand in the local and regional marketplace with a sound, competitive, sustainable footing that can have significant economic impact.