Sugar-based growth: Origin and development of the Cosun cooperative, 1899–1999

Cosun is a cooperative enterprise with headquarters in Breda in the Netherlands, which is engaged internationally in the manufacture of food and food ingredients. Its products include sugar, speciality sugars, alcohol, carbohydrate derivatives, vegetables, fruits, spices, mushroom-growing substrate, and seeds. Cosun employs about 4,300 people. Around 15,000 sugar beet growers hold shares in the cooperative. The three sugar factories Groningen, Dinteloord and Puttershoek belonging to its Suiker Unie division account for 62.5% of the sugar produced in the Netherlands. The decision of 173 farmers in 1899 to establish the Eerste Nederlandsche Coöperatieve Beetwortelsuikerfabriek (First Dutch Cooperative Beet Sugar Factory) in Sas van Gent marked the beginning of a series of cooperative enterprises. In the course of time and after several restructurings and name changes, these cooperatives gave rise to the agro-industrial business Cosun.