Fenaco is an agricultural

cooperative federation A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives. Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of co-operative wholesale societies and co-operative ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, headquartered in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

. ''Fenaco'' is an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

of its French name ''fédération nationale des coopératives agricoles''. Members of the federation are 165

agricultural cooperative An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperati ...

s trading under the name ''Landi'' as well as some others. This makes Fenaco indirectly owned by the around 43,000 members of the Landi cooperatives, 22,000 of them being active farmers.

Activity

Fenaco is active in providing products and services to farmers as well as in processing and marketing farmers' products in its retail chains. According to a 2005 article in the

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

, Fenaco has a "dominant role in many agricultural sectors". In 2009, it was placed on position 172 of the

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

list of the world's largest 250 producers of consumer goods, although it operates only in Switzerland. Enterprises or labels of Fenaco are the beverage company ''Ramseier Suisse'', meat producer ''Ernst Sutter AG'', the retailers ''Volg'' (small supermarkets) and ''Landi'', fertiliser retailer ''Landor'', animal feed producer ''UFA AG'', and mineral oil company ''Agrola''. As these names are better known to the general public than Fenaco who owns them, it has also been called "the silent giant". Altogether, Fenaco owns 80 subsidiary companies. Swiss

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

Syna Syna is a general union in Switzerland. The union was founded in 1998, when the Christian Wood and Construction Workers' Association, the Christian Union for Industry, Trade and Commerce and the Swiss Graphic Trade Union merged with the National A ...

has a "social partnership" (a term for a cooperative relationship between trade unions and employer's associations) with Fenaco. Fenaco has over 11,000 employees and in 2021 had a sales revenue of 7.3 billion

Swiss franc The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

History

Fenaco was founded in 1993 as a merger of six existing agricultural cooperative federations with roots in the late 19th century.

References

External links

* Cooperatives in Switzerland Cooperative federations Retail companies established in 1993 1993 establishments in Switzerland Food cooperatives Companies based in Bern {{retail-company-stub