@abiaspen is the bank account sorted now? where are we on that?

Thanks @grahamehunter this is super helpful breakdown and good to think about the financials of it from many different perspectives!

Thank you Grahame for these very helpful details, fully support opening a collective bank account if this is still being decided

OurField Weston bank account

In order to hold the money belonging to the Weston field co-operative members, and to deal with the payments in and out in the next months (hulling, milling, shipping, selling etc) I will open a bank account for the co-operative. Initially, and until someone stands forward to become the Treasurer, John Cherry and I will be the joint names for the account.

Anyone leaving the cooperative will be paid out of this account, and new members will pay into it, so it will be very transparent what money is there for everyone to share and distribute as you decide.

__ This account is separate to any financial arrangements and funds held by the organisers for the OurField group. This is only for the Weston farming activities of the cooperative.__

Dear Grahame
I am very pleased that you have opened a bank account. It is also good that you have noted that we need separate accounting arrangements for activities beyond the farm gate.
This could be a long intervention. I shall make it brief .
We have decided by vote to engage in processing and marketing beyond the farm gate without knowing whether we have the capacity to operate effectively. Effective operation will require many inputs, skills and networks.
I am not against such activity and proved this by offering to donate £100 towards beyond farm gate initiatives. I voted, however, to sell the 15 tonnes, although hoping that we might use some of the 15 tonnes as seed,
To get your attention I feel obliged to say that my continued participation in the OurField project depends on someone coming forward to take on the accounting and related financial responsibilities beyond the farm gate. I know this seems boring and unimaginative. But it is an essential change. I judge it to be so important that without such a new arrangement I would not want to continue as a co-investor.
I could make the case in more detail but I shall leave it there.
With deep respect and every good wish to all co-investors. Tony

Tony, I shall be interested to see what co-operative members think on this topic.
perhaps loomio is not an ideal forum for this; and there may need to be some management structure in place for the cooperative; __ which may have to be a different set of people to the OurField organisers__ - who by definition (and perhaps unfortunately) are not members of the co-operative.

Just to clarify @grahamehunter - we decided in the end that members of the organising group could invest and choose to be part of the co-investor group if they liked. @annielandless and I did choose to invest and so are both co-investors and organisers. The only person we decided wasn't allowed to be a co-organiser is you @grahamehunter as moderator and that is because we thought it important that the moderator is impartial as ultimately you are the person putting the proposals together based on what the collective say in discussions.

oh good, I am glad that is clear. That seems to be the right arrangement then on membership.

Dear Grahame
Very many thanks for responding. It would be very good to hear from other co-investors. I agree the Loomio platform may not be the ideal medium. But some preliminary ideas and suggestions could be generated if co-investors would comment. Again many thanks.

I see, Tony, that you and I are having a lonely conversation.

After the 23 November meeting - which sadly I cannot attend as I am out of the country - I will put up a poll of how the Cooperative and John (who after all is key to the matter) may wish to go forward, eg raising issues of new members, leaving members, the extra hectares, finances, management, valuation of non financials such as soil fertility etc etc.

For now, I will try and nudge forward the group decision to hull /mill all the grain.

There is sufficient funds to meet all the present costs of bulk hulling /bulk milling, so your offer to raise the subscription towards costs beyond the farm gate is not currently on the table.

g

I was just replying on the other thread and emailing Wrights, @grahamehunter, then planned to reply to Tony :) I agree input to all threads is sadly low though. Maybe this discussion would be better on the main thread, as all issues to do with the field are interrelated?

@johnanthonyallan Tony, I just wanted to say, please do see out this current year before deciding whether to continue as a co-investor. I voted for the option that I did to see if we can make it work with limited, but not excessive, admin beyond the farm gate. If it becomes too much (and we continue) we can decide differently next year. But it may not be too problematic, she says with her fingers crossed!

I’m afraid I am personally not able to take on the accounting and related financial responsibilities but if we can keep things simple (ie, one mill, one bakery) it may not been needed. Or the amount of time required for certain options can be factored into the choices offered for the vote in future years (ie, ones that are not feasible are not offered as a choice).

All for discussion on the 23 I think. I’m looking forward to seeing you there. And visiting the bakery for the first time.

Dear Wendy
Many thanks for your constructive reply. You make very useful points.
Can we suggest an agenda for 23 November. Tony

I think your suggestions last week offer a good draft agenda Tony (which I have tweaked). But maybe @abbyrose will want to add/amend.

1 Will we continue, if so, should we develop an on farm OurField three (???) year strategy

2 How far do we want to be involved in beyond the farm gate strategy on marketing and processing and retailing

3 Reporting, accounting, budgeting and overall planning. Investor arrangements etc

@wendyalcock and @johnanthonyallan thank you for your suggestions of the agenda. I think that simple 3 point agenda looks great. I will add anything to it that is brought up in the meantime... very much looking forward to seeing you all a week on Thursday at 6.30 to discuss in person!

@andrea One may wish to review the earliest predictions for 2017..in this spreadsheet attached the costs pretty well matched the income if per hectare we achieved 2.6 tonnes / hectare sold at £160 /tonne. In the later decisions it was decided to cut out sprays to grow a non commercial wheat and I think last year we harvested between 7 and 8 tonnes in total from 19 ha.

Thank you Grahame. Can you please post the accounts of the following years?

Hello @Grahame Hunter , Could you make the accounts of the last two years available to the community? Thank you