Farmers Union is a brand name established by the South Australian Farmers' Co-operative Union Ltd (SAFU), and now owned by Bega Cheese [1]
At a meeting in Jamestown, South Australia on 28 February 1888, a committee formed to establish a grain "producers' union to combat the effects of depressed agricultural prices and the power of dealers". In October, John Pearce, [2] Thomas Mitchell, [3] Alex McCallum and others floated the "South Australian Farmers' (later Co-operative) Union Ltd" with a paid-up capital of under £300, ninety-four shareholders, John Pearce as managing director, Thomas Mitchell and Alex McCallum directors, and George Lake [4] as secretary.
Pearce was elected chairman, and remained a director until 1902. His eldest son Edward James Pearce later became a director. Mitchell succeeded Pearce as chairman. Lake later became manager, and continued as secretary-manager until 1895.
In 1893 the union declared its first profit.
In 1895 the head office was transferred to Adelaide. A merchandise store was established at Port Adelaide, and business was diversified to include dealing in wheat-sacks, machinery and superphosphate. Mitchell died in 1908 after 20 years of leadership; his son Robert [5] later became a director. [3]
Dairying was for many years a thriving business with the South Australian Farmers' Union opening a factory in Stansbury in 1923. At its peak it produced 2,400 pounds of butter a week. Increasing wool prices saw cows being replaced by sheep: less labour-intensive sheep were providing a better return for farmers. The butter factory closed in 1951. [6]
Irrigation settlements were established along the lower Murray River in the early 1900s, and a dairy industry developed. In 1922 the South Australian Farmers Union opened a factory in Murray Bridge. From 1919 to the mid-1940s the milk and cream was collected by small, fast and powerful boats; the South Australian Farmers Union operated a fleet which included the Loyalty, the Union, the Co-operation and the Progress. [7]
Its main competitor in Adelaide was AMSCOL – the Adelaide Milk Supply Co-operative Limited. The company was taken over by the South Australian Farmers Union and Dairy Vale in 1978. [8] [9]
Farmers Union became part of the Adelaide Steamship Company, and was included in the public float of National Foods in 1991, which was subsequently acquired by Lion Nathan, which was subsequently acquired by Japan's Kirin in 2007. [10] In November 2019 China's Mengniu Dairy purchased Lion Dairy from Kirin. [11]
Bega Cheese announced on 26 November 2020 that it had agreed terms to purchase Lion Dairy & Drinks for $534 million. [12] The sale was completed in January 2021. [13]
Arla Foods Group is a Danish-Swedish multinational co-operative based in Viby, Denmark. It is the fifth biggest dairy company in the world and the largest producer of dairy products in Scandinavia and United Kingdom.
Flavored milk is a sweetened dairy drink made with milk, sugar, flavorings, and sometimes food colorings. It may be sold as a pasteurized, refrigerated product, or as an ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treated product not requiring refrigeration. It may also be made in restaurants or homes by mixing flavorings into milk.
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational publicly traded dairy co-operative owned by New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exceeding NZ $22 billion, making it New Zealand's largest company. It is the sixth-largest dairy company in the world as of 2022, as well as the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.
Yoplait is the world's largest franchise brand of yogurt. It is fully owned by French dairy cooperative Sodiaal since 2021.
Bodalla is a small town on the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and located in the local government area of Eurobodalla Shire. The town sits on the Princes Highway, and is connected by road to Moruya, Narooma, Nerrigundah, Eurobodalla and Potato Point.
Vitasoy is a Hong Kong beverage company. It hosts a brand of beverages and desserts named Vita. Founded in 1940, it now operates under the Vitasoy International Holdings Limited. Its headquarters are in Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong.
Dairy Farmers Pty Ltd, originally established in 1900, whose parent company is Australian-owned Bega Cheese, is distributed mainly in New South Wales and Queensland in Australia. The core products sold under Dairy Farmers brand are fresh milk and UHT "long-life" milk, as well as various other dairy snacks. It supplies products to local and international markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Bega Dairy & Drinks is a subsidiary of Australian diversified food company the Bega Group, having been purchased from the Japanese company Kirin in November 2020. While owned by Kirin, it was known as Lion Dairy & Drinks.
Farmers Union Iced Coffee is a flavoured milk drink popular in Australia, primarily the state of South Australia. It continues to be sold under the Farmers Union banner, originally a South Australian co-operative, subsequently the listed company National Foods, and then by a series of subsidiaries of the Japanese brewing company Kirin. The current manufacturer's company name is Bega Dairy & Drinks.
Big M is a brand of flavoured milk that was founded in Victoria, Australia, in 1977. It was launched by the Hawthorn-based and newly formed Victorian Dairy Industry Authority (VDIA), which replaced the more regulatory-oriented Victorian Milk Board. In November 2020, Australian company Bega Cheese purchased Lion Dairy & Drinks from Japan's Kirin Holdings, acquiring Big M and other notable brands from the Japanese entity. This acquisition followed an earlier attempt made by Mengniu Dairy to acquire the brand in November 2019, which was rejected by the Foreign Investment Review Board.
Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited was a dairy-processing co-operative corporation. In 2018, following financial difficulties and difficulties with suppliers over sustainable prices, the business assets were sold to Saputo Inc, a publicly-listed Canadian dairy company and later the trading name of the business was changed to AG Warehouse. The co-operative was placed into liquidation in 2020.
Warrnambool Cheese & Butter Factory Company Holdings Limited (WCB) is an Australian-based company manufacturing dairy products, majority-owned by Saputo Inc., a Canadian company, that manufactures a range of dairy products under various brands. The business is based in Allansford, Victoria and is the oldest dairy processor in Australia, having been established in 1888. It owns cheese brands CHEER and Cracker Barrel.
Oak is an Australian pasteurised flavoured milk brand owned by a French multinational corporation, Lactalis. It was first established in 1967 in New South Wales, as the general dairy brand of the Raymond Terrace Co-operative and its successor the Hunter Valley Co-operative Dairy Company. The origin of the Oak brand goes back to 1903. Oak flavoured milk was launched in Queensland, South Australia, and Victoria in 1998. It was discontinued in Victoria in 2006 but relaunched in 2010. Oak launched in Western Australia in October 2013.
Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the United States through Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners. It acts as distributors for a range of spirits in New Zealand, but does not own any distilleries outright, although holding a 50% share of Four Pillars Gin in Victoria.
The Downs Co-operative Dairy Association Limited Factory is a heritage-listed factory at 57 Brook Street, North Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia. It is also known as Dairy Farmers Factory. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 April 2008.
The Bega Group is an Australian diversified food and drinks company with manufacturing sites in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria. Founded as an agricultural cooperative in the town of Bega, New South Wales by their dairy suppliers, it became a public company in 2011 when it listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Close to half of shares publicly traded are still held by Bega's farmer-suppliers. It is currently one of the largest companies in the dairy sector in Australia, with a base milk supply in 2018 of approximately 750 million litres per annum.
Dairygold Co-Operative Society Limited is an Irish dairy co-operative based in Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland. With its catchment area mostly in the Golden Vale, Dairygold processes an annual volume of approximately 1.43 billion liters of grass fed pastureland milk, making it Ireland's second largest dairy co-operative and the island's third largest milk supplier. Formed after the 1989 merger of the Mitchelstown and Ballyclough co-ops, as of 2023 it had 7000 shareholder members and an operating profit of €24 million from a turnover of €1.4 billion.
