Type Subsidiary Headquarters England and Scotland Website farmcareltd.com Number of employees 240 | Industry Farming, Wholesale Products Food Founded 1896 | |
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Key people Richard Quinn
(Chief executive) Parent organizations The Co-operative Group, Wellcome Trust | ||
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.
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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.