SAOS Update
Autumn 2025
WO R K I N G T O G E T H E R T O SHA P E T H E F U T U R E O F FA R M I N G A N D F O O D
Tim Bailey CEO: SAOS’s new Strategy Reflects Ambitions for Greater Co-operation Political manifestos are often derided as being glossy publications full of empty promises and little more than ‘a bunch of words’. And in many cases that may well be a reasonable perspective. Earlier this summer however, I had the privilege of representing SAOS and our member co-ops at an industry event at 10 Downing Street. This wasn’t an excuse for a nosey around the halls of power, but to join representatives from a wide variety of sectors to celebrate the launch of the UK Government’s new Mutual and Co-operative Sector Business Council. The Council has been set up as part of the Labour Party’s manifesto pledge, aiming to double the size of the UK’s co-operative and mutuals sector, and working with the sector to address the barriers they face. The premise of the Council is to bring together some of the leading mutual and co-operative businesses in the UK, to partner with government and help them achieve their manifesto aim. SAOS can feed into this forum via our
membership of Co-operatives UK and, bilaterally, with the Council’s agriculture representative, Arla UK. This renewed UK Government interest in co-ops is not only very welcome, but also timely as we have just finalised the new SAOS Business Strategy for 2026-2030. In creating this, we’ve gone ‘back to basics’ to ensure that our strategic plans remain firmly underpinned by the rationale that greater cooperation in our sector will help: • Maintain a critical base for food production as well as our rural fabric, with family farms at its core • Increase individual farm and agricultural sector profitability • Provide a means to derisk and diversify farming sectors. Similarly, whilst we’ve been around now for 120 years, our underlying purpose remains the same: “to promote, support and develop co-operation within agriculture, to maximise the economic, environmental and social benefits of working together”. Our vision for 2030 is not just to see our sector treading water and surviving, but for it to thrive and grow. As such, our strategy aligns well with the UK Government’s commitment to support the growth of the co-op sector as a whole. But how will we secure that vision? The plan will be driven by three key missions. First, and overarching, to help our co-op members become more resilient; strengthening their foundations and viability through helping reduce ‘key person’ risk, developing in-business capabilities, enhancing business governance
and helping to identify and reduce business risks. Secondly, we want to enable growth through increasing relevant market knowledge, supporting innovation and increasing commercial capabilities. We want to catalyse commercial opportunities through provision of seed funding and build greater knowledge of fundraising opportunities and alternative business models. We also want to build greater ‘co-op to co-op’ collaboration and advantage. Thirdly, we want to enable the fast-tracking of more cooperation by increasing coop business knowledge, and enhancing support for members to develop their own marketing and communications. We will complement this with continued activity for co-op-supportive public policy and extending stakeholder understanding and promotion for co-ops. To deliver the above, we need to develop our own capabilities and resources, including developing and growing our diversified income streams to deliver more, better and quicker, for our members and for the wider sector. It is essential that strategies, like manifestos, are explicit in their intentions and focus, but also in demonstrating their success in delivering. Whilst we live in an increasingly unpredictable world, and some of our ultimate success will be dependent on others, we do at least live by the enduring co-operative value of self-help and do not rely on governments, or their manifestos, for all our answers!
Save the date! SAOS Conference 2026 Thursday 22nd Jan - Crieff Hydro