Fram Farmers, an innovative leader in the farmer-owned cooperative sector, has appointed Gordon Cummings as strategic partnerships manager.
With over 40 years’ experience in the agricultural machinery industry, Gordon is charged with maintaining and developing Fram Farmers’ existing partnerships with leading machinery and vehicle manufacturers as part of the newly-created role.
He will also use his extensive contacts to develop new collaborations which will generate further significant savings and benefits for the cooperative’s 1,400-plus members throughout England, Scotland and Wales.
“Post-Brexit, Government support for the agricultural sector will change and controlling production costs will become increasingly important for UK farms,” he said.
“The role of a true members’ cooperative, collectively purchasing inputs on behalf of its members, can only increase.
“Machinery is a key input for all farming businesses and accounts for a significant proportion of their overall costs, so my role is to help our members to achieve the best possible value for money when purchasing new machinery and services.
“My aim is to increase the range and scope of strategic partnerships with manufacturers, as well as developing new initiatives so that we can offer members even greater choice and value.”
Track record
Born and raised in Suffolk, Gordon started his career as a buyer for a builders’ merchant in Suffolk before joining farm machinery manufacturer Shelbourne Reynolds Engineering at Stanton as buyer, then becoming their first salesman.
After seven years he moved to Peacock & Binnington, one of the premier agricultural machinery dealers in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, as sales manager at the company’s Louth depot, before joining Claas UK as East Midlands territory manager.
Gordon remained with Claas for 21 years, latterly as general manager of its retail business, Eastern Harvesters (Marsh & Seward), where he was responsible for an annual turnover of over £50 million.
In 2012, Gordon joined Louth Tractors to revitalise the business, which was achieved, following which he spent three years with spare parts, tools and agricultural components supplier Kramp UK, being the leading account manager every year.
Seeking a new challenge, in October, he accepted an approach from Fram Farmers to help the cooperative expand its range of partnerships with machinery and vehicle manufacturers.
As part of this new role, he has set himself the goal of meeting as many members and suppliers as possible to further increase the value which the cooperative provides.
Farm Farmers
Based at Framlingham, Suffolk, Fram Farmers is a member-owned cooperative which provides the purchasing, grain marketing and administrative function for over 1,400 members who farm over 350,000ha. Each year it purchases more than £190 million of products and services annually on their behalf, including a wide range of machinery.
Richard Anscombe, chief executive of Fram Farmers, added: “Machinery is something that all of our members need and forms a very significant proportion of their expenditure.
The Top 25% of farms in the Farm Business Survey are where they are largely because they have significantly lower labour and machinery costs.
“By taking much of the burden of purchasing and administration off our members’ shoulders, Fram Farmers help them to save significantly on labour and administration costs, and now we are increasing our focus on helping to reduce their machinery costs too.”
