Farmcare
 | |
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Farming, Wholesale |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Headquarters | |
Key people |
Richard Quinn (Chief executive) |
| Products | Food |
Number of employees |
240 |
| Parent | Wellcome Trust |
| Website | farmcareltd |
Farmcare Trading Limited is the largest lowland farming organisation in the United Kingdom. Farmcare traded as The Co-operative Farms while a subsidiary of The Co-operative Group until it was sold to the Wellcome Trust in 2014. Welcome decided to cease farming activities in 2017 and instead form partnerships with farmers.
History
The Co-operative Farms
The first farm was acquired at Roden, Shropshire in 1896 in order to supply potatoes to local societies' stores. By 1918, the then Co-operative Wholesale Society already farmed a total of 32,648 acres (13,212 ha) across England.
Following the merger of CWS and Co-operative Retail Services in 2001, CWS Agriculture became Farmcare Limited. It was rebranded as The Co-operative Farms in 2007.
Wellcome Trust
On 4 August 2014, the business was sold to the Wellcome Trust for £249 million, to reduce The Co-operative Group's debt following its financial crisis in 2013. At the time of the sale, The Co-operative Farms owned 39,533 acres (15,998 ha) of land organised as 15 farms, and more than 100 residential and 27 commercial properties.
In 2017, Wellcome announced that they would cease farming activities and instead formed 12 partnerships with farmers and farming contractors.