Farmcare Trading Limited, trading as Farmcare, is the largest lowland farming organisation in the United Kingdom.[1][2] 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.
 | |
| Farmcare | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 1896 |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Richard Quinn (Chief executive) |
| Products | Food |
Number of employees | 240 |
| Parent | Wellcome Trust |
| Website | farmcareltd |
History
The Co-operative Farms
The first farm was acquired at Roden, Shropshire in 1896 in order to supply potatoes to local societies' stores.[3] By 1918, the then Co-operative Wholesale Society already farmed a total of 32,648 acres (13,212 ha) across England.[4]
Following the merger of CWS and Co-operative Retail Services in 2001, CWS Agriculture became Farmcare Limited.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]
In 2017, Wellcome announced that they would cease farming activities and instead formed 12 partnerships with farmers and farming contractors.[8]