On December 1st, 2020, EVOLUTION, MASTERRIND and VikingGenetics (owned by Faba, Växa and VikingDanmark) establish a new dairy and beef genetic cooperative named Arcowin, which will represent 53,000 farmers in Europe. The new cooperative will work on ensuring the most sustainable and the highest possible genetic progress, to the benefit of the members and customers worldwide.
EVOLUTION, MASTERRIND and VikingGenetics are leading cattle breeding cooperatives with strong bases in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, and Sweden. All three cooperatives have been pioneers in driving progress and profitability of the dairy and beef industry, not only in their home markets, but also around the world.
As of January 1st, 2021, Arcowin will support dairy and beef breeding programs from EVOLUTION, MASTERRIND, VikingGenetics, with the main objective to ensure the highest possible genetic progress.
‘We believe that by combining the ambitions, the expertise and the obligation to support the dairy and beef industry, the road is set for Arcowin to be able to play a key role in developing the industry for the future, which could include additional partners to join. The three organizations will use Arcowin to get better usage of their genetic resources and investments’, says Mr. Vincent Rétif, Chairperson of the board.
Arcowin will implement a full exchange of genetic information across all breeds and countries. The new cooperative will be able to identify superior animals, and thereby maximize the genetic gain in all the breeding programs organized by the Arcowin partners. The dairy genetics will still be evaluated and marketed on the existing bases.
‘The three founding partners of Arcowin have a long history of investing significant resources into research and development to ensure continuing strong development of their breeding programs, production and services. Going forward, Arcowin will coordinate and align the R&D activities between the three founding partners, eliminating parallel work and sharing the resulting benefits with members and customers’, says Dr Josef Pott, CEO Arcowin.
The three founding partners will keep operating separately in administration, production, marketing and sales, and agree to investigate further synergies of collaboration.