Preface

This work was commissioned to document the history of The Farmers’ Co-operative Organisation Society of New Zealand Limited, today known as Allied Farmers Limited, inaugurated in 1914. During early research it became apparent that the business had actually been established some 25 years earlier when in 1889 the Egmont District Agricultural & Pastoral Association used their collective influence, under the guidance of a group of South Taranaki’s most distinguished gentlemen, to established a stock and station company, The Egmont Farmers’ Union Limited, under the management of the eminent Arthur A. Fantham of Hawera. Following his death in 1904 the business was transferred to his son Arthur A. Fantham II, who, following one year’s trading as Fantham Bros & Co., joined Arthur William Gillies and Edward Ernest Nalder, to trade under the name of Gillies, Fantham and Nalder. The partnership was dissolved in 1906, but continued operating as Gillies and Nalder who in 1914 sold the entire operation as a going concern, including buildings, saleyards and incumbent staff to The Farmers’ Co-operative Organisation Society of New Zealand Limited. In 1997 the company revised its constitution and changed the name to comply with the new Companies Act to Allied Farmers Limited.

The vision and energy of these early settlers created an enterprise that would eventually provide the province with one of New Zealand’s most enduring rural trading organisations, with agents and branches situated in almost every town and village in Taranaki. Fortunately a brief excursion into the history of South Taranaki in connection with an earlier work provided a hint of what was in front of me when I set out on the journey to research and write: TOO OLD TO BE SECRETS NOW – A History of Allied Farmers Limited. The title was inspired by the late Alan Caselberg, son of Herbert M. Caselberg, who when providing a series of ‘sensitive’ documents owned by his father said, they were ‘ too old to be secrets now’, which encapsulates many of the revelations in this documentary.

This is a story about a determined, dedicated group of entrepreneurial pioneers who chose to settle this fertile and exceptionally bountiful district of South Taranaki, clearing the land and farming what is now some of the most productive dairy pasture anywhere in the world. The resulting commercial infrastructure fashioned to support these early farmers, eventually became a diversified, dynamic and world-renowned agricultural industry. Taranaki’s relative isolation and commitment to self-determination inspired a philosophy and developed a culture that overcame many hurdles in the early years, including opposition from local Maori, difficult terrain and coastal topography, depressions, slumps, the introduction of mechanisation, two world wars, and the ever-changing volatile fragile world economy together with a mushrooming technological age that now influences the future almost before it arrives. This company is one of few existing rural servicing facilities in New Zealand still strongly linked to the place and people where it originated and continues to embrace a loyalty and pride amongst shareholders and current and former staff that is strong and enduring.

Researching the people and happenings associated with the company has provided me with a profusion of exhilarating and at times poignant adventures and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to document the achievements of many of South Taranaki’s founding fathers who, with loyal staff and shareholders, passionately guarded this 120-year-old book of business through three commercially diverse centuries, continuing to uphold the original objectives and principles of co-operation in their quest to service the rural community of Taranaki, neighbouring provinces and more recently other areas of New Zealand.

Reflecting on the many thousands of people associated with the companies throughout the years, one lingering regret has been my inability to adequately document and praise many who gave their heart and soul, and some their entire working lives, to this most remarkable organisation. The directorate and management who commissioned this historical chronicle at a time when the speed of change often shrouds the achievements of the past must be congratulated. Russell A. J. (Russ) Standing 27 July 2009

Note: 1. Quotations throughout the text are often speech recorded in minutes of the Society and therefore are sometimes not the speaker’s own words. 2. Taranaki’s mountain is referred to as Taranaki or Mount Egmont depending on the preferred name at the particular time in history.