ORICoop
Guiding Manifesto

Preservation

to protect, preserve and enhance farmland and businesses that produce organic food in a sustainable and regeneratively farmed manner.

Education

to provide strategic career pathways & work opportunities, that enable more people to pursue a career in organic & regenerative agriculture and food production.

Community

to collectively enable people to engage & prosper for more connected and sustainable communities, localised food & better supporting farmers in our regions.

Investment

to build a strong, secure & more resilient food system. That includes a fair and sustainable return to investors, balancing ecological expectations for farmers, and the longevity of food security.

Purpose

ORICoop enables a collaborative business enterprise that builds upon a sustainable, organic and regenerative farming ecosystem across Australia.

What are you waiting for?

Be part of our journey

  • Be part of the global transition towards a resilient, sustainable, organic, ecological & regenerative food production system.
  • Bring together capital investment, with sustainable returns in organic farmland, business and related assets.
  • Preserve existing certified organic & biodynamic farmland for the long term.
  • Increase the amount and value of protected biodiversity, woodlands, wetlands & healthy ecosystems across the Australian agricultural landscape.
  • Build more carbon resilience & increase carbon stores across farming & forestry systems.
  • Provide stable and long term agricultural business opportunities to the next generation of organic farm managers and businesses.
  • Reduce the environmental impact of agriculture & food production, by avoiding toxic chemicals & fertilisers into soils, waterways & farmland.
  • Build an inclusive & collaborative culture, that does not discriminate on race, age or gender.
  • Support businesses, communities & people that together can build a stronger, more resilient business and community based society.
  • Empower businesses that nurture regenerative economics & natural ecological policies.

We encourage our Co-operative members to understand and register their support of the Slow Money Principles.

A measurable parameter of the co-operative are the UN sustainable principles included here.

Who are we?

A united collective of passionate, talented, innovative ORICoop members, that together intend to bring long term change to the farming, food, land, finance & co-operative sector

Carolyn Suggate
ORICoop Founder and Director

Driven, passionate, multi-skilled, resourceful, organic farmer, strong advocate for equality & a team player. ORICoop is a reflection of her deep desire to see a more aligned connection between farmers, eaters, healthy farmland and our financial systems.

Maroye Marinkovic
Director

Solution designer specialising in creating digitally enabled environments, tools and systems for improving value chain sustainability, transparency and efficiency. Actively working on developing ORICoop technology capacity to support Eco-Credits, supply chain services and overall digital capabilities for ORICoop and it’s members. Contributing to the mission of ORICoop aligns with his deepest values, belief and passion.

Trevor Moyle
Director

With a background in finance, corporate governance and investment, Trevor has always been strongly committed to family and community, recently established two foundations in Nepal, team leader for Australian Conservation Foundation Community Group which meets at CERES in Brunswick.

Greg Paynter
Director

A keen advocate since 1990, an experienced practitioner, certification specialist, extension officer, researcher in the public and private sector in the organic ecosystem, prior to that a broad-acre agriculturist in the conventional realm. Currently assisting in the development of the Eco-Credit program also working in the development of organic fertilisers from mining offal. Driven by what I believe organics has to offer humanity whilst preserving natures capacity.

Sandra Fishwick
Director

One of Australia’s pioneering organic avocado farmers, Sandra is incredibly passionate about saving Australia’s cultural farming heritage, educating people about sustainable food production, preserving the soil and maintaining a pristine water supply.

Who are our stakeholders?

Investors

ORICoop offers investment pathways into organic and regenerative farmland, water and supply chain opportunities. Together with our Eco-Bond. That balances the needs of our members, increasing the land, water and supply chain that offers fair investor returns that don’t cost the earth.

These ‘Investment offerings’ will be circulated to members first, and those who have registered their interest in these notifications. Investors will be wholesale and professional investors as dictated by law, and will receive a copy of the co-operative rules, a disclosure document, and investment offer prior to interest in each investment. In the future there will be availability for retail investors also who are ORICoop Members.

Members

You are invited to become a member of ORICoop, assuming your acceptance of the ORICoop membership guidelines as contained in the Rules and Disclosure Statement.

All beneficiaries of the co-operative are encouraged to also become members (i.e. farmers leasing land from co-operative, business owners, educators, students, farmers and investors). All members will be invited to farm & investment days — and engage with other members.

Board Members

We appreciate our Board members support in the growth of ORICoop. You can contact them directly here.

All directors positions are encouraged to represent the view of collective groups of members, i.e. members, investors, farmers, business owners and an independent non-executive director. These positions will be reopened at the AGM, or suitable positions will be advertised.

Partners

ORICoop offers strategic partnerships with like minded businesses, foundations and co-operatives to further build and enhance the organic farming, business and food system.

We encourage all our partners to become an ORICoop member, and to agree to the central ethos of the Co-operative.

Eaters

Our ‘Eater’ members’ intention is to be more closely connected to farmers and farmland, and to their increasing desire to see more organic food in their communities, local & direct from farmers to them.

They are the people that are invited to local Consumer ORICoop Member days, but also that invest in a better food system with every dollar they spend. We hope that through collaboration with our ‘partners’ that our consumers can measure their impact, and be conscious collective consumers that make a real difference!

What are you waiting for?

Organic Sector Overview

The organic sector in Australia is worth in excess of $1.73B, and growing at a rate of 13-14% per annum (Organic Market Report, 2017). The market has ongoing strong consumer demand, with more educated consumers looking for connection, authenticity, certified and healthy food in Australia.

The complex aspects of the industry are the lack of resilient supply chains and reliable markets for increased demand in organic food, related to geography, land access and profitability. Together with constraints around the agricultural labour force, business development and deep expertise needed to build stronger and more climate resilient farm businesses over the long term.

ORICoop endeavours to address these needs, and others through our collective expertise, connecting networks of producers and addressing the needs through better transparency and member based values of a co-operative. With the depth of diverse experience of the ORICoop Board, engaged members, key strategic advisors, aligned partners and specialist consultants we are ready to tackle this exciting proposition!

Be the change you wish for

and join us on our journey…

Become a member

  • Healthy food
  • Resilient communities
  • Organic producers
  • Cooperative values
  • Ethical investment

What is a Cooperative?

Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.

– International Co-operative Alliance

There are seven Cooperative Principles:

  • Voluntary and open membership
  • Democratic member control
  • Member economic participation
  • Autonomy and independence
  • Education, training and information
  • Cooperation among cooperatives
  • Concern for community

ORICoop: a cooperative of organic farmers, eaters and investors.

Together with our members, ORICoop seeks to do business differently. With aligned intentions, farm management and transition strategies, investment parthways and career development – we want to see the world of organic farming and food be prosperous, safe and world changing.

We believe that people should be able to farm organically without profit being the single strongest driver, measure and motivator. We also believe that people and investors, can be intrinsically involved in their investments, and to see the long term outcome of these benefits beyond the financial returns.

We are committed to creating a farmer-owned, people owned, investor balanced co-operative that brings together aligned investment into organic farmland and businesses for long term impact, real returns, community benefit, and the land preserved for the long term. Importantly, as member owners, we believe we should build community for the common and collective good.

In the tradition of their founders, cooperative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. That’s the official definition according to the International Co-operative Alliance.

ORICoop believes that farms should be owned and managed by entities that have a long term genuine interest in the preservation, restoration, viability, productivity and longevity of the asset.

ORICoop acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of our nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work. ORICoop operates throughout Aboriginal land in our vast country. We acknowledge the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island people as the traditional custodians of each region and pay our respects to their elders past and present.

We are committed to a positive future for the Aboriginal community, and to work collaboratively with them in regions of significance and opportunity to their people.