At the General Members' Meeting in September, Growers United's 40 entrepreneurs voted unanimously in favor of a new governance model for the cooperative. With the new governance model, sales, packaging, and production will be managed as one, shaping further integration into Growers United. The annual accounts were also voted on. Growers United made a loss for 2021 of about €1.8 million. It was decided that the negative result for 2021 would be borne by the cooperative itself.
Under the banner of 'clout,' Growers United is working with its members to build the cooperative of the future. By joining forces, even more, the members are laying the foundation to realize the 2030 strategy launched last year even more firmly. The cooperative will start using the new governance model in 2023.
Joint ambitions and approach
To ensure maximum future resilience for its members, Growers United aims to grow into a leading European producer organization in the coming years, operating in the most relevant countries in terms of production and sales. According to the cooperative, this requires 'a joint approach and method'. At the same time, business activities around sales and packaging must be given the right focus. With further integration, the cooperative aims to strengthen its position and increase value and efficiency. This should make Growers United even more attractive to its members as a platform. Members look to the future with confidence, the cooperative states in the press release. They point out that the demand for healthy, sustainably grown fruit vegetables is expected to remain high.
At the ALV, members also gave the green light to develop a suitable financial and legal structure to realize the joint ambitions. The structure will be more accessible to future members, financiers, and capital providers.
The 'joint stock cooperative model' makes it attractive for members to use the cooperative as a platform to realize the joint ambitions for 2030. With the new model, the cooperative is flexible enough to move with ever-changing circumstances. This should make members' businesses even stronger. And thanks to this solid foundation, members' businesses can continue to grow.
View inside Growers United's DC during a visit by the Agro Businessclub Westland this summer. Managing Director Jan Opschoor and Finance Director Stefan van Vliet discussed the cooperative's direction in detail there.
Annual accounts 2021
During the ALV, the members unanimously approved the annual accounts for the 2021 financial year. The year 2021 was marked by the commissioning of the new packaging plant at the Honderdland industrial estate in Maasdijk. With this location, Growers United is able to serve its customers from a one-stop shop and accommodate the expected growth in the coming years. The desired efficiency gains have not yet been reflected in the financial result in the starting year 2021. Taking into account the healthy financial position of the cooperative, the board of Growers United has decided to take the negative result for 2021 into account the cooperative itself. For this reason, Growers United reports an incidental loss for 2021 of approximately €1.8 million. This loss will be charged to the reserve and therefore does not have to be collected from the members.
For more information:
Growers United 
www.growersunited.nl