An assessment of farming co-operatives in New Zealand

The New Zealand Kellogg Rural Leaders Programme develops emerging agribusiness leaders to help shape the future of New Zealand agribusiness and rural affairs. Lincoln University has been involved with this leaders programme since 1979 when it was launched with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, USA.The co-operative movement in New Zealand has been going for over 100 years. During\ud this period of time there have been many notable achievements and also failures.\ud One of the saddest aspects of this period is the lack of documentation. With my\ud somewhat limited resources I will endeavour to do an assessment of farming co-operatives\ud in New Zealand. I will highlight some of the strong points of the co-operative\ud movement, some of the features, but also some of the weaknesses and pitfalls, as well\ud as looking at the future trends of co-operatives and the co-operative movement\ud generally. We will also look at the capital structure of various individual co-ops,\ud taking into account the reserves, share holder equity, assets and liabilities