The decision to establish the WFL was taken by members of the executive committee of the Worcestershire county National Farmers’ Union (NFU) at a meeting held in Worcester in August 1919.
The poor attendance at one meeting on 14 October 1919 at the Star Hotel in Tenbury Wells was excused by the fact that there was a busy market at the time, although it was also thought that the reluctance of some within a profession known for its high degree of individualism to engage in a form of organisation more associated with socialism played a role.
[3] After 100 further members joined, following another gathering held in Worcester on 17 November, which was addressed by a prominent figure from the agricultural cooperative movement, Percy Whiteley of Preston Farmers Limited, it was reported that altogether £20,000 of share capital had been pledged and this was deemed sufficient to allow WFL to be officially established at the end of the month.
The first general manager and secretary, E. H. Davies was appointed and operations, which had begun from a small desk in the corner of the Farmer's Union Office in the city, soon moved to the cooperative's own premises at 59 Broad Street, Worcester.
Once the war ended, however, there arose a widespread fear in the agricultural community that food prices would fall, especially if an expected decline in shipping rates again opened up the British market to competition from abroad.
Not only would this reduce the price of inputs for the farmers — it was reported that they could save up to 30 shillings a ton on linseed cattle cake — but they also stood to benefit from the annual redistribution of any trading surplus, which would be returned to members in direct proportion to the amount of business they had done with the cooperative.
[6] By 1920, however, the Worcestershire Fruit and Vegetable Society was in dire financial straits and the WFL ‘to help the co-operative ideal‘ agreed to step in to save it, offering its members 15 shillings in the pound on their share capital.
[7] By taking over the Society, WFL acquired control of its Worcester market and this helped strengthen its balance sheet which, in its first year of trading, showed a healthy profit of £1,336 on a turnover of £109,546.
The society staff worked hard to build sufficient confidence in the cooperative to attract new members but it was not until 1928 that the board was able to recommend a payment of interest on share capital and not until the following year, 1929, that they were able to pay a bonus on the trading surplus at the rate of two pence in the pound.
The Second World War brought new challenges for WFL as thousands of acres of pasture were ploughed up for grain and every cottage garden became the home of pigs and poultry.
Two years later, in order to supply the northern half of the county and parts of Birmingham, a second egg packing plant with some of the most advanced grading machinery in the country was established on the Stourport Road in Kidderminster.
In 1946 the Clockhouse in Tenbury Wells was also acquired and developed into a corn and fertiliser store with a general farm supplies shop, dealing in feeding stuffs for anything from cattle to canaries.
Indeed, its opening on 4 September 1958, by Sir James Turner, the President of the National Farmers' Union, even warranted the production of a special four-page supplement in local newspapers.
Inside, as well as an office block for the cooperatives’ administrative staff and a retail store, there was a mill for the manufacture of cattle, poultry and pig foods.
This rapid growth led Sir Frederick Brundrett to state at the time of the opening of the new Worcester premises that ‘There is no other society in England, or to my knowledge in Europe, which provides such a wide service.
providing, as it does, on the one hand the needs of production such as feeding stuffs, fertilisers, seeds, fuel oils, etc….. and on the other markets for grain, eggs, fruit and vegetables.’[12] The building of the new premises in Worcester did not stop the society's expansion.
A proposal was made that WFL should merge with the neighbouring Warwickshire Farmers Limited to create one of the six largest agricultural cooperatives in England, with a total membership of 5,800 and a turnover approaching £6,000,000.