Fordhall Farm

From the ever-excellent Co-op News comes details of a small sort-of-organic farm in Shropshire that has been setup as an Industrial and Provident Society. When the landowners of Fordhall Farm wanted to sell the land, the tenants couldn't stump up the cash to buy it themselves. So a co-op was founded (with the help of Co-operatives UK) to purchase the farm, and lease it to them on a long-term basis.

£50 shareholdings were sold to more than 8000 members from around the world, and a combination of this money and some loans was sufficient to buy the farm. The place is now an educational centre as well as a traditional farm complete with farm shop. New members are welcome in order to reduce the remaining liabilities - click here to join! (pdf, 765k).