Yenda Co-op celebrates 100 years

What began with 10 farmers deciding to work together has grown into a co-op with over 2500 members across the Riverina and North East Victoria.

In 1925, 10 farmers from Yenda made the decision to work together to market fresh produce and obtain farming supplies.

Now, the Yenda Producers Cooperative Society is celebrating its centenary, with over 2500 members across the Riverina and northeast Victoria.

Chief executive Anthony Nehme started out at the co-op as a 19-year-old trainee accountant, and has seen the growth first hand in his 23 years with the group.

“When I first started, we had three branches, now we have seven, and we also have three subsidiaries. I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of the significant growth stage of the co-operative over the last fifteen years,” he said.

“When you look back at how it first started, ultimately the 10 members were trying to better their buying power. The same principle applies now.

Chief executive Anthony Nehme at the Yenda branch. Picture: Supplied

With four branches in the Riverina, the co-op first expanded into Victoria about five years ago, acquiring businesses in Wodonga and Wangaratta, and made its most recent acquisition at Corryong last year.

Mr Nehme said the expansion gave members assurance that the group was looking to move ahead, and not sit idle.

“Up until five or six years ago we were a local business, and we still are local, but it just means we’re local on a bigger scale,” he said.

The group now employs 240 full-time staff, but the principles that Yenda was originally built on still hold strong today, valuing loyalty, integrity, community, co-operation and respect.

Any potential acquisitions need to fit the same mould.

“The businesses that we’ve acquired were the right ones, because they had the same values and service level as us,” Mr Nehme said.

“We’re fortunate to say the previous owners are still on board as part of our group.”

To accompany the centenary celebrations, Yenda is hosting the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals national ag roundtable on July 25, with attendees expected from across the country, including SunRice and CBH.

“To see what other businesses are seeing in terms of opportunities, risks and challenges, that’s pretty much the crux of the ag forum,” Mr Nehme said.

For Mr Nehme, the role of co-operatives in Australian agriculture cannot be understated.

“They’re massively important. There’s probably a lot of people that are part of a cooperative or mutual without them being aware they’re a member of it … (but) it allows people to achieve a goal that on an individual basis, they wouldn’t be able to achieve,” he said.