Mole Valley Farmers

Mole Valley Farmers
Agricultural cooperative
Industry Agriculture / Retail
Founded 1960 (1960)
Headquarters Devon, South West England
Key people
  • Andrew Jackson (CEO)
    G.M. Cock (Chairman)

[1]

Number of employees
2100 +[2]
Website molevalleyfarmers.com

Mole Valley Farmers is a retail firm founded in 1960 by a small group of farmers in South Molton, Devon. The aim was to create an agricultural buying-group that would be able to offer agricultural items to farmers at lower prices by buying in bulk.[3] The company is operated as a cooperative with members each holding shares in the company. A key part of this is that the company operates on the smallest margin possible to allow continuity and growth. It is not a requirement to be a member of the company to shop there. Today, Mole Valley Farmers is one of the few agricultural cooperatives in the supply industry and one of the largest in the UK.

Mole Valley Farmers owns nine branches in South West England, their own feed mills (for animal feeds, at Calne Dorchester, Huntworth and Lifton), fertiliser blending plants (at Teignmouth), a specialist mineral plant (at Bridgwater), a farm building division (at Witheridge) and a commercial / informational website.[4] The range of goods supplied by Mole Valley Farmers has grown since the company's early beginnings and now includes lifestyle products such as clothing, footwear, garden supplies, pet food, white goods and power tools.

In 2002, Mole Valley Farmers acquired SCATS Countrystores, which has 19 stores across the south of England.

The company's closest competitors include ForFarmers, NWF Agriculture, the Wynnstay Group and Countrywide.

Confusion sometimes arises over any potential connection with Mole Valley, a district in Surrey in South East England.[5] Mole Valley Farmers takes its name from an area in North Devon, between the towns of North Molton and South Molton. The River Mole runs through this area but is again distinct from the River Mole that runs between Dorking and Leatherhead in Surrey.

Locations

Mole Valley Farmers has nine branches throughout South West England. These are:[3]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/7/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.