Keeping it cooperative

One of just two dairy cooperatives left in Australia, Norco has strong local support and a bright future, including moves into China.

Story By Amanda Burdon

The morning’s milking is well underway on Moyola, in northern New South Wales, but thick fog still veils the emerald valleys that envelope the farm. The verdant scene evokes images of his Irish ancestry but third-generation dairy farmer Warren Gallagher is far too busy to savour it as he guides the last of his patient milkers into his herringbone dairy near Clunes.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Warren supplies the dairy cooperative Norco – one of just two remaining in Australia. The Gallaghers’ intergenerational commitment is typical of Norco’s shareholders – some 350 members operating about 215 dairy farms sprinkled across the New South Wales North Coast and south-eastern Queensland. In an era of ever-increasing corporatisation, Norco prides itself on the loyalty and continuity of its members.