Farmers' Union or Farmers Union may refer to
Farmers Union is a brand name established by the South Australian Farmers' Co-operative Union Ltd (S.A.F.U.), and owned by the Japanese company Kirin now.
At a meeting in Jamestown, South Australia on 28 February 1888, a committee formed to establish a grain "producers' union to combat the effects of depressed agricultural prices and the power of dealers". In October, John Pearce, Thomas Mitchell, Alex McCallum and others floated the "South Australian Farmers' (later Co-operative) Union Ltd" with a paid-up capital of under £300, ninety-four shareholders, John Pearce as managing director, Thomas Mitchell and Alex McCallum directors, and George Lake as secretary.
Pearce was elected chairman, and remained a director until 1902. His eldest son Edward James Pearce later became a director. Mitchell succeeded Pearce as chairman. Lake later became manager, and continued as secretary-manager until 1895.
In 1893 the union declared its first profit.
In 1895 the head office was transferred to Adelaide. A merchandise store was established at Port Adelaide, and business was diversified to include dealing in wheat-sacks, machinery and superphosphate. Mitchell died in 1908 after 20 years of leadership; his son Robert later became a director.
Dairy Farmers is one of the largest and oldest dairy manufacturers in Australia, established in 1900, supplying products to local and international markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Kirin Holdings Company, Limited of Japan, via its subsidiary National Foods, acquired the company on 27 November 2008.
On 15 January 1900 (1900-01-15), the Dairy Farmers Co-operative Milk Co. Limited was created by 65 stakeholders, most being dairy farmers is in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The aim of the co-op was to market their milk and butter products effectively to city customers.
After 107 years of Dairy Farmers being 100% Australian owned by Australian dairy farmers, with 11 processing facilities in the country, the company is now foreign owned by National Foods Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirin Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, which is part of the Kirin Group of Japan.
In 2005, Dairy Farmers came third in dairy sales, with Norco Co-operative second and National Foods with their brand Pura coming first.