Co-op Farms Go Corporate

The beleaguered Co-operative Group has insisted that it wants a single major corporate buyer for its portfolio of British farms, and will not consider community buyouts. This dashes the hopes of green campaigners, who are calling the move a "panic sale" that leaves the way open for Chinese buyers to snap up the land. The Co-op announced at the end of February that it would be selling all of its 15 farms, a total of about 17,000 hectares (44,000 acres). Bids are due in by the end of this month.

Estate agent Savills has been instructed not to give particulars to any potential buyer without a "proven track record in acquisitions". This weekend it wrote to a conglomerate of farmers – including Martin Large of the Biodynamic Land Trust – to clarify that there would be no consideration of community buyouts, even though groups are forming across the country to attempt to persuade the Co-op otherwise. It means swaths of British farmland will probably be snapped up by a Chinese investor or hedge fund speculator. Interest in UK farmland from such foreign investors is high at the moment, especially because of the threat of food insecurity. Critics of the sale say it will end more than 100 years of ethical farming by the Co-op in its farms and at three packhouses across England and Scotland that process cereals, fruit, vegetables and honey.
The Farmers Weekly newspaper estimated that the sale of the land alone, without any added value from equipment or buildings, could bring in around £140m. This, critics say, will make barely a dent in the Co-op Group's £2.5bn losses in the year to April 2014.
Large said the decision to sell was a poor one. "When you consider the sorry tale of the Co-op Group's recent leadership, one questions the wisdom of the distress firesale of the farms. Are the boys in the sweetshop now selling off the family silver to help pay for their spending spree?

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