Members of the Cooperative

Most members of our cooperative are specialised on the production of fruits for industrial processing. Presently we operate as a collaboration of elderberry, sour cherry and apple producers.

We market crops for different purposes: elderberry and sour cherry are sold as crushed fruit, deep-frozen and packaged products for factories and smaller processing units. Apple is shipped to Hungarian supermarket chains and also offered to Western European retail partners and processing plants.

Having a good relationship with supermarket chains, we are able to sell fruits for final consumption in supermarkets, which is an opportunity only for those producers who meet the quality standards. This continuously expanding, absolutely solvent sales opportunity offering high price levels is used to encourage producers of raspberry, bramble, strawberry and apricot to become members in our cooperative.

Further benefits of being a member:

As opposed to most cooperatives on the market, we do not require an annual contribution to the costs of operation. Also, the following services can be used free of charge or at discount price:

• Transport to the total territory of Hungary in small and large amounts: our contacts allow the shipment of the crops to the whole of Hungary, due to the large number of sub-suppliers and their ever growing vehicle park. This allows the members of the cooperative to have their products shipped to multiple locations simultaneously.
• On demand, provision of wrapping. Transport vehicle can also be provided, equipped with pallets, containers or boxes (MÜ10, MÜ20, MÜ5, MÜ2.5) and, if possible, it is shipped to the location of the plantation the day before the harvest, if negotiated in time.
• Our trained staff assists the registry to EKAER (Electronic Trade and Transport Control System), either on the phone or in the form of personal consulting. Before the start of the season an information session is held on the changes in registry obligation.
• Tax consultancy: in the service development area of the Cooperative, members are entitled to receive free tax consultancy by appointment.
• Accounting services at reduced price: a professional team is responsible for the accounting of the Cooperative, with continuous developments by its members, and ever increasing range of services. The team members successfully use their skills obtained at courses and further trainings in practice. Within this innovation it is possible that the members of the Cooperative are offered accounting services at reduced price in the designated accounting offices.
• Writing tenders: We try to assist our members in as many areas as possible, and so we continuously inform them about new tendering possibilities. For the writing of the applications a complex service is offered, our members can be contacted to a tender writing team who will manage their tenders.
• Possibility to have a Vodafone team subscription with extra allowances: MEGÉR-TÉSZ Cooperative has a group subscription that members can join. Members can inquire about the current price reductions on the phone or by e-mail, or personally in the office, by appointments.
• Use of professional advisory service: the staff of MEGÉR-TÉSZ Cooperative considers it very important to provide adequate professional consulting for members. In order to be able to answer each topical question as soon as possible, we mediate our producers to our specialised advisors who have excellent professional background. We also give assistance to our members for the use of the integrated technology initiated by the professional advisor. Our goal is the operation of a close producers’ cooperation where our members, directly communicating to each other, can promote one another’s development, by sharing their skills and experiences.
• Juice manufacturing at reduced price from the own fruit of the members: due to out expanding relationship network we can assist our members in getting their fruit processed (into juices or dried products) at a preferential price.
• Mediation of harvesting brigades of different size in harvest season (on demand): after painful experiences gathered in years, we managed to filter out the most reliable picking groups which we mediate to our members on a preliminarily made appointment.
• Guaranteed purchase and sales of fruit, irrespective of the current market prices: in case of over-production the fruits are not left on the trees, sales and the purchase of the crops will be free form problems. This is due to the bilateral communication that we have to our members: a significant role is played by the assessment of the yield IN TIME, as an overproduction, or a deficiency not recognised at the right time may lead to disastrous economic consequences on the side of producers and processors.
• In season a 24 hour customer service is available to our members.
• Possibilities to purchase seedlings at preferential prices: elder seedlings from the only Hungarian nursery producing virus-free seedlings, from Antal Szendi. Continuously expanding range of sorts not produced previously in Hungary. Original Serb Oblacinska. Procurement of other seedlings produced by other nurseries at preferential prices.

Obligations of the members:

The Cooperative operates by the principle of open membership. Anybody can join the Cooperative who accepts to be bound by the basic rules and pays the minimum amount of financial contribution, HUF 100,000 by the deadline, and also agrees not to quit from the Cooperative for a year after admission.

Meeting the deadlines of the administrative obligations required by the representatives of the cooperative means that each new applicant should precisely fill in the request form for admission, with special regard to the specification of the producer status. (It must be specified in the request for admission if a new members wishes to have a producer or non-producer status.)

In case of any data change during the year (e.g. change of residential address, change of name, changes in the size of farming area etc.), the Cooperative must be notified in writing, in order to safeguard the timeliness and accuracy of the register of members.

Leadership of the Cooperative must also be notified, simultaneously with the competent authorities, of natural disasters that occurred in the plantation – damage caused by hail, frost, drought, flood –, in order to safeguard the fluency of sales and the organisation of the harvesting works.

The Deed of Foundation has exclusive obligation of members for selling crops that are registered in the Cooperative.

Production information must be sent to the Cooperative, this information flow must be guaranteed by the producer, also assisting the data supply tasks of members specified in the Deed of Foundation (e.g.: spray diary, administration of plant protection, expected amount of crop).

In order to safeguard the fluency of harvesting works, flexible, precise and accurate cooperation is necessary in harvest time with the logistics staff of the Cooperative. On the request of this staff or in case of collecting freights, the use of pallet identification is automatically necessary in order to alleviate the separation and guarantee the traceability of the harvested crops.