The Organic & Regenerative Investment Co-operative (ORICoop) was registered this month, engaging with the Farming Together program.

Project director and Ebor Beef initiator Lorraine Gordon said the $13.8 million government funded Farming Together campaign helped primary producers and processors collaborate and claim marketplace power.

“All farmer groups who register receive one-on-one expert advice to discuss their opportunities and appetite to create a successful collaborative group,” she said.

“This could be either as a structured co-operative, as a collective bargaining entity or as a less-formal collaborative group.”

Spokeswoman Carolyn Suggate said the ORICoop program, launched last year, offered a powerful planning tool for farmers. 

“There’s an incredible appetite for a balanced approach to investment, to facilitate it into vehicles that are more horizontally managed rather than vertically structured,” she said. 

“We’ve had incredible interest in what we’re building.

“Our intention is for organic farms to be preserved and to be held in perpetuity. “Investors and farm managers can come and go, but the entity is secured for longevity and Australian ownership.”