ALa Coop fédérée has posted record numbers this year: 71 million dollars. Obviously, that’s a lot of money compared to the past few years, but it’s relatively conservative compared with the 3.6 billion dollars in sales and surpluses generated, year after year, good or bad, by other large cooperatives in North America, such as Agropur, Growmark and the Tennessee Farmers Coop.

This said, we should be happy with this remarkable turnaround, we should celebrate and dance ‘til the cows come home – think about it, a sales record - but there’s something that doesn’t feel right, a squeak in the wheel, a nagging feeling, a certain awkwardness conveyed in the questions and body language of some producers who believe, deep in their bones, that we’re making loads of cash off their hard work!

Let me tell you, this is more than just a little awkward. Let’s not forget, for those of us who may have, that the results posted by La Coop have come after a lean period and that these numbers represent the end product of several different trade activities, a large part of these figures were accomplished with the help of all kinds of people, none of whom were agricultural producers.

For example, what about the chicken sold at Loblaws at a good price, or pork, exported to Korea and China with an unusually high profit margin? Or how about these 300 million litres of gas sold to flustered drivers, and what about the 200 million tons of no-colour diesel fuel used by long distance truckers? Add to that some 50,000 tons of urea sold direct to an industrial white glue manufacturer and all the other construction materials purchased from our hardware stores by normal everyday citizens and what you get is almost half of La Coop’s sales figures… the result of non-member transactions!

By generating profits that line the company’s pockets directly, all of these profitable activities are essential to maintain member services at reasonable prices. And that’s a good thing.

Naturally, pork producers will say that their selling price is not up to American prices. It’s true. If you want my opinion, this is where the awkwardness lies. In fact, since June of 2008, the Fédération des producteurs de porcs and Olymel have come to an agreement and have even signed a contract intent on increasing the price of pork to meet U.S. prices. It was all for nought since some slaughterhouses are very resistant.  

Why?

We should ask them instead of hammering away at Olymel.

Therefore, we must assume. We will not be prosperous and pretend to be poor nor will we act like those property owners who are ashamed of their estate. As for this prosperity, La Coop has earned every penny despite fierce competition. It earned this money because its subsidiary, Olymel, respected its trade strategy, because La Coop did some heavy streamlining of its network assets (closing down local plants and mills), and because it ensured an increasingly attractive business proposal for producers and because its employees worked long and hard. 

These astounding surpluses will be used to continue with the various Chrysalid projects (which are aimed at reducing farm costs), to modernize La Coop network which is in dire need, and to maintain services in small towns that have long been deserted by big business, to create agri-energy coops throughout the land, to invest in projects that will provide farmers with the means to take their fate into their own hands, to reassure our bankers, to attract competent staff and especially, since these results now allow it, to generously give back to our members. That’s about 30 million dollars this year, another record!

I’m satisfied to think that the money generated by agricultural cooperatives, such as Agropur, Citadelle, Unicoop and Profid’Or, will not end up on the beaches of Florida but instead will remain here on Québec soil.