MODULE 4

Conflict Management and Enabling of a ‘Perfect’ Ending

6. Enabling of the Perfect Ending

  • The perfect ending to a collaborative/cooperative arrangement is difficult to achieve as it ultimately reflects that the collaboration has possibly failed to some extent as it was formed to provide benefits to members and is ending for some reason
  • The perfect ending will also be very different depending on the scale and nature of the collaboration/cooperative
  • The exit of one member from a small collaboration/cooperative (e.g. one farmer exits a partnership arrangement) could require the ending of the arrangement
    Example: If one farmer decided to exit the collaboration in the dairy farm (Case Study IR04), cheese production (Ekomeat) or livestock production (Eco Farm Bošina) it could mean the end of the arrangement. In contrast if one farmer decided to exit the lamb producer group (Sligo Leitrim Lamb Producer Group), the olive cooperative (Sociedad Cooperativa Andaluza (S.C.A.) Nuestra Señora de los Remedios) or the hemp producer group (Zadruga Konopko, zadruga za razvoj trajnostne pridelave in predelave industrijske konoplje – Konopko z.o.o., socialno podjetje), it would not mean the ending of the collaborations/cooperatives.
  • However, the ending may not be due to failure but due to retirement of a partner, death or serious illness of a partner
    Example: Two farmers lacking successors (Reutehof GbR)
  • A good collaborative/cooperative agreement will have set out the process for withdrawal/retirement/dissolution
  • Possible steps which can be taken to ensure that the ending of the collaboration should be fair to all members
  • As finances are important for individuals, members could consider having a contingency fund in place to address the financial costs of ending of the arrangement or for other partners to buy out or compensate a partner who is leaving
  • Some of the key aspects include:
    • Written agreement in place setting out all aspects of the collaboration agreement
    • All members clear on the reasons for ending the arrangement
    • A mediation process with an external individual has taken place
    • Adherence to all conditions of agreements in place
    • Agreement to terminate the arrangement
    • In order to facilitate the perfect ending, there is a need for clarity around the following:
      • Assets included in the arrangements
      • Funding of investments
      • Ownership of investments
      • Depreciation of assets over a number of years and end value
      • Profit distribution
      • Workload/input
      • Family involvement
      • Dispute settlement process
      • Procedure for dissolution of the arrangement
      • Treatment of EU/National payments (current and future)
    • Agreement over a dissolution date
    • Agreement over responsibility for leasing contracts etc entered into with third parties
    • Cooling off period in advance of dissolution

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SELF-ASSESMENT

This questionnaire will allow you to evaluate the competences acquired by studying the module.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
CO-FARM: Enhancing COoperation amongst FARMing entrepreneurs
Project Number: 2016-1-IE01-KA202-016870

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