Co-op Leader Conversations

As ITM celebrates 35 years, CEO Sara Johnson explores how cooperation has helped independent timber merchants build national scale while retaining local ownership, and shares her perspectives on cooperative leadership, member governance, succession and the strength of the collective.

What will determine whether today's agricultural cooperatives are still thriving twenty years from now?

This follow-up Primary Industries NZ Summit panel explored exactly that question.

Panelist Bruce Wills summed it up simply:

"The co-operatives still around in 20 years' time will be those that run a great business."

Anna Nelson added an equally important perspective:

"The strength of collectives becomes even more important when you're surrounded by volatility and complexity."

Good governance, strong commercial performance and long-term investment have always mattered. But as markets become more uncertain, climate pressures increase and farming continues to evolve, collective ownership may become even more valuable than it has been in the past.

That's one of the many topics explored in this follow-up Co-op Leader Conversations episode, where our panel answers audience questions that couldn't be covered during the live 2026 Primary Industries NZ Summit session.

Panelists: Bruce Wills, Chair Ravensdown; Anna Nelson; Chair Silver Fern Farms Co-operative and Simon Tucker, Group Director Global External Affairs, Fonterra.

Capital for a cooperative future

Explore the unique capital challenges facing cooperative businesses in this Co-op Leader Conversations episode with Mike O'Connor, Managing Director of O'Connor Partners.

Learn why cooperative capital is fundamentally different from investor-owned companies; what directors should consider for long-term success; the risks of adopting corporate approaches and how boards can protect member purpose while investing for the future.

Leading cooperative scholars Professor Dionne Pohler and Dr Marc-Andre Pigeon discuss what enables co-operatives to thrive across generations, exploring governance, capital, member engagement and the leadership practices that help member-owned businesses remain relevant, resilient and future-focused.

Carl Taylor discusses how a small group of builders created a rapidly growing cooperative that now supports more than 2,100 building trade members in New Zealand and Australia through collective buying power, advocacy, member ownership and consistent storytelling.

Susannah Batley of Sharesies Business discusses how technology is reshaping the co-operative ownership experience, from shareholder communication and mobile-first access to liquidity, succession and long-term member engagement.

HRV is New Zealand’s leading home ventilation system and a household name, with more than 500,000 New Zealanders living in a home with at least one HRV product. In this episode of Co-op Leader Conversations, we speak with CEO Norman Woods about why this established Kiwi business chose to convert from a traditional company structure to a co-operative — and what that ownership shift means for its future.

What New Zealand could learn from Australia’s housing co-ops. Australia’s CEHL proves housing co-ops can scale: a specialist owner (CEHL) holds the assets; local co-ops govern and manage; rents sit around social-housing affordability settings; and registration gives lenders comfort. New Zealand’s blockers are known - no dedicated tenure, immature lender products, and land access -so the question isn’t if housing co-ops work, but when we’ll let them. Liz Thomas walks us through the playbook.

Seasonal Solutions co-op was one of the founding entities of the current RSE scheme, and brings in over 1,100 seasonal workers each year to share labour across its diverse members. The co-op has recently worked through a multi-year shareholder-member engagement and share buy-back process. Craig describes their approach and the resulting benefits they are now experiencing as a co-op.

Listen as Luc explores in detail the drivers of change in Belgian horticultural cooperatives over his 35+ year career. We learn the striking similarities between co-ops in Belgium and New Zealand.