International Day of Cooperatives : "Co-operative enterprises build a better"

Cogeca President Paolo Bruni stressed “Agri-Cooperatives play a crucial role in ensuring a competitive, innovative EU agri-food sector. They improve the economic performance and viability of their members, enabling farmers to add value to their produce and help to protect them against risks. They also help ensure product development through research and innovation. They realise that with dwindling resources and rising food demand,  it is vital to find innovative ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the agri-food sector and “produce more with less”. In order to stimulate innovation and encourage their development, Cogeca presented this year, in the International Year of Cooperatives, the European Award for Cooperative Innovation. 

The highly innovative cooperatives have demonstrated remarkable and promising achievements, either by introducing new types of products and services responding to the evolving needs of consumers and society, or by introducing new, more efficient ways to use resources, leading to increased benefits for their members”. 
 
Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen insisted: “With farmers currently getting a small percentage of the final price of a product, it is moreimportant than ever to further concentrate supply via the development of cooperatives to help them get a better return from the market place. That is why it is important to ensure that much more is done under the Common Agricultural Policy to strengthen cooperatives’ role”.