Supermarket contracts, pressure on land, and long-standing local rivalries can easily make it feel as though the farm next door is your main competition.

But the potential for farmer collaboration - which has long been a feature of agriculture - remains largely underused in the UK.

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In my role working with farmers across the UK, I regularly see the pressures businesses face - from volatile input prices to tightening margins and unpredictable weather. The real question may not be who we compete with, but how much we could gain by working together.”

Examples of farmer co-operation in the UK today

Across the UK there are already strong examples of farmer co-operation delivering real benefits.

These range from large agricultural co-operatives such as AF and Arla to smaller local initiatives such as environmental cluster groups.

However, the UK still lags well behind many European countries when it comes to agricultural collaboration.

A 2024 report from Co-operatives UK estimates there are fewer than 500 agricultural co-operatives in the UK, accounting for roughly 6% of the domestic agricultural market.

In comparison, co-operatives represent 68% of the market in the Netherlands, 55% in France, and 45% in Spain.

Closer to home in East Anglia, we’re seeing encouraging examples of farmers working together to address shared challenges.

The Upper Wensum Cluster Farm Group brings together 27 farms covering more than 10,000 hectares, collaborating to improve water quality and biodiversity in the River Wensum catchment.

Another example is the Norfolk Deer Strategy, launched by the Norfolk Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG).

The initiative aims to co-ordinate more effective deer management across farmland and estates.

Today it covers almost 85,000 hectares and has expanded beyond Norfolk into Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

These projects demonstrate how collaboration can deliver outcomes that individual farms would struggle to achieve alone.

A long tradition of farmers working together

Farmer collaboration is not a new idea. In fact, it has deep historical roots.

Systems such as medieval common fields and the open-field farming system, dating back to around the 9th century, allowed communities to manage land collectively.

Their legacy can still be seen today in arrangements such as machinery rings and shared grazing agreements.

Friendly societies and mutual aid networks emerged during the 17th century, offering financial and practical support during illness, poor harvests or livestock losses.

The principle was simple: farmers helping farmers.

That spirit continues today through organisations such as The Farming Community Network and Forage Aid (now part of The Addington Fund), which support farming families during difficult periods.

Co-operative marketing of agricultural produce also has a long history. Since the late 1800s farmers have collaborated to market products such as dairy and fruit more effectively.

The same principle remains visible today in dairy co-operatives like First Milk and collaborative food brands such as Two Farmers.

How farmer co-operation can tackle today’s challenges

In today’s economic climate, even large farms can have limited influence when operating alone.

I often hear farmers say they feel like small players when dealing with global supply chains - even when they run large and successful farm businesses.

Procurement is a good example. A single farm buying fertiliser or crop protection products may purchase significant volumes, but in global supply chains it remains a relatively small customer.

This is where co-operative buying groups make a real difference.

By aggregating demand across thousands of farmer members, AF procures over £50 million of crop protection products each year, strengthening negotiations with suppliers on price, availability and service.

Rather than one farm purchasing 500 tonnes of fertiliser, farmers become part of a community collectively purchasing around 150,000 tonnes annually.

There may be opportunities to take collaboration even further. For example, groups of neighbouring farms could coordinate deliveries of inputs such as fertiliser, feed or fuel.

Suppliers could deliver full loads to a central farm location, with individual farmers collecting their orders locally.

Reducing fragmented logistics could lower costs for suppliers and farmers alike while improving efficiency across the supply chain.

And will the new £30 million Farmer Collaboration Fund present an opportunity to drive working together?

While £30million over three years is not a lot of money, there should be a multiplier effect by getting farmers upskilled or working together on environmental projects.

At a recent regional event exploring how the fund will work, several cluster groups were represented as they see the fund as an opportunity to facilitate continued farmer collaboration through their groups.

John Barrett, AF Group chief agricutural officer (Image: John Barrett, AF Group chief agricutural officer)

Collaboration could strengthen the farming supply chain

This raises an important question: why compete with neighbouring farmers when collaboration could benefit everyone?

By working together - whether through formal co-operatives or informal regional partnerships - farmers can strengthen their bargaining power, secure better prices and even collaborate to win supply contracts that might otherwise be out of reach for individual farms.

In some cases, farmer collaboration could even reshape supply chains, encouraging suppliers and buyers to compete for high-quality produce developed collectively by groups of farms.

At a time of growing pressure on UK agriculture, co-operation offers a practical way to reduce costs, improve resilience and strengthen farmers’ influence in the market.

It takes planning and trust, but the potential benefits are significant.

And that is exactly where co-operatives such as AF can play a vital role - helping farmers turn collaboration into practical, profitable reality.

© Eastern Daily Press