100 years of ZAP: from regional to global player TRADE AND MARKETING First of all, congratulations with your centenary and receiving the ‘Royal’ designation. ‘Thank you.’ The fact that a small cooperative like the ZAP has not yet been swallowed up by the big giants that have meanwhile developed in the sector, is unique to say the least. Why is that? ‘A small cooperative like ours can, indeed, be called unique indeed. The reason is, in fact, quite simple. For a hundred years, we’ve maintained the maxim that we like to collaborate with everyone, but we don’t want to merge. We have, of course, had various requests to merge with other cooperatives in the past hundred years. However, the members have always kindly passed. Even in periods when lots of mergers were taking place and you seemed crazy if you didn’t join in. A muchdiscussed merger took place forty years ago when six small cooperatives from this area merged into Agrico, with the exception of the ZAP. Has there really never been a reason to merge in those hundred years? ‘As far as I know, in the history of our cooperative, there has never been a moment that gave rise to the decision to merge with other parties. The members have always had strong ties with one another and that hasn’t changed. They always come loyally to the growers’ and members’ meetings and enthusiastically take part in the study clubs and excursions. Most of them are now the fourth generation on the members’ list. What also plays a part is that the business structure and the mentality of the members has remained the same over all those years. Most crop farmers around Anna Paulowna have been growing high-quality seed since 1920 and sowing seeds since 1913. The expertise and knowledge about these cultures has only increased. This has resulted in all the members still wanting to go in the same direction. Another important, bonding factor is that our members are always open to each other. That’s especially noticeable in the study clubs, where members don’t hesitate to share information about their own crops and farm management with each other. And you also see this openness in the joint ventures that growers have set up with each other.’ And the financial situation, too, has never given cause to merge with another cooperative? ‘I don’t know of any financial reason to team up with other parties. The turnover line of the ZAP has been rising ever since 1913. The good seed potato and sowing cereal prices in recent years have made that line go up even more. Ten years ago, we still had an annual turnover of 6 million euros and last year this was more than 10 million euros. What mainly characterises our cooperative is that we are not chasing profit, but want a good seed potato price for our members. We usually end the financial year with a modest profit, sometimes with a small loss. What also plays a role is the low overhead costs. The ZAP has a small office and with only six staff the manpower level is low. Also, membership is free, in the sense that members don’t have to pay a fixed basic amount. From the turnover that our growers make, one percent goes to the members’ account. This is untouched for five years and we pay out in the sixth year. Membership involves one more, extra bond because the ZAP has limited liability. This means that the growers themselves are responsible for what is in the members’ account at any moment. In addition, we also have income from trade with non-members and from services carried out for third parties.’ You said that the ZAP has always wanted to collaborate with others. Who are the partners at the moment? ‘We’ve been working together with various seed potato merchants in the Netherlands for some decades now. What is of primary importance here are the specifics of 1,000 hectares of high-quality seed potatoes with varieties that fit the farms of the members and which we only want to sell at the best price. It could happen that, for this reason, we will enter into relationships with new partners, it could also happen that we part ‘For a hundred year, we’ve maintained the maxim that we like to collaborate with everyone, but we don’t want to merge.’ again later on. Trading companies that we have been working with for many years are Agrico and HZPC. And more recently there is the collaboration with Pepsico, IPM and TPC. For Pepsico we’re now exclusively growing S categories for their affiliated French-fry potato growers. We’ve been slowly phasing out the collaboration with HZPC for some years. The acreages of varieties that we’re growing for them are slowly decreasing. Meanwhile, we’ve been making that up with a large proportion of free varieties and a few new varieties from other trading companies. By agreement, we’ve decided to continue with HZPC through to the harvest of 2014 and effectively to stop the collaboration at that point.’ Does competition perhaps also play a role? ‘That is certainly the case. Over the last five years, we’ve increasingly taken up export activities outside Europe. Since a few years ago, we’ve had our own sales representative, Tarek Chebib, coordinating all this. He is Lebanese and speaks all the languages necessary to maintain trade contacts in the marketing areas. Chebib has his office in Brussels and from there arranges our seed potato sales to Northern Africa and the Middle East. He naturally travels regularly to longstanding and prospective customers there. That’s working very well.’ Potato World 2014 • number 1 5 Pagina 4
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