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Agricultural cooperatives

Author

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  • Tortia, Ermanno
  • Valentinov, Vladislav
  • Iliopoulos, Constantine

Abstract

The economic nature of agricultural cooperatives is explained by means of a logical continuation of the organizational economics rationale for family farms. The traditional explanations of the importance of family farms is discussed, and embedded in a broader framework which considers their transaction cost-economizing effect and their limitations in terms of limited ability to scale up production and to reach adequate market power. We maintain that these disadvantages represent the major motives for the creation of agricultural cooperatives, whose role lies in enabling the realization of advantages of large scale organization in agriculture while avoiding its transaction costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Tortia, Ermanno & Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2013. "Agricultural cooperatives," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 2(1), pages 23-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:176551
    DOI: 10.5947/jeod.2013.002
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    12. Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2012. "Property Rights Problems in Agricultural Cooperatives: A Heterodox Institutionalist Perspective," German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Department for Agricultural Economics, vol. 61(03), pages 1-9, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Stefano Ciliberti & Angelo Frascarelli & Gaetano Martino, 2020. "Drivers of participation in collective arrangements in the agri‐food supply chain. Evidence from Italy using a transaction costs economics perspective," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(3), pages 387-409, September.
    2. Julia Amend & Patrick Troglauer & Tobias Guggenberger & Nils Urbach & Martin Weibelzahl, 2024. "Facilitating cooperation of smallholders in developing countries: design principles for a cooperative-oriented decentralized autonomous organization," Information Systems and e-Business Management, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-31, March.
    3. Iliopoulos Constantine N. & Valentinov Vladislav & Kvartiuk Vasyl & Bartkowski Bartosz, 2013. "Government–Third Sector Relations in European Rural Development: A Critical Perspective," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 65-80, May.
    4. Ahmet Candemir & Sabine Duvaleix & Laure Latruffe, 2021. "Agricultural Cooperatives And Farm Sustainability – A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1118-1144, September.
    5. Theo Benos & Panagiota Sergaki & Nikos Kalogeras & Dimitrios Tzinalas, 2024. "Coping with side‐selling in cooperatives: A members’ perspective," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 177-199, March.
    6. Vladislav Valentinov & Gabriela Vaceková, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-17, July.
    7. Nikolić, Marija M. & Ševarlić, Miladin M., 2013. "Cooperatives in International Trade of Agricultural and Food Products," 135th Seminar, August 28-30, 2013, Belgrade, Serbia 160390, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Abraham, Mathew & Verteramo Chiu, Leslie & Joshi, Ekta & Ali Ilahi, Muhammad & Pingali, Prabhu, 2022. "Aggregation models and small farm commercialization – A scoping review of the global literature," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Matyja, Małgorzata, 2016. "Position of Polish Agricultural Production Cooperatives on the International and Domestic Market," Problems of World Agriculture / Problemy Rolnictwa Światowego, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, vol. 16(31), pages 1-9, December.
    10. Matysiak, Ilona, 2021. "Between Passion and Rejection – Attitudes Towards Agriculture Among Young University Graduates in Rural Areas in Poland," International Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (IJAGST), SvedbergOpen, vol. 190(1), July.
    11. Mojo, Dagne & Fischer, Christian & Degefa, Terefe, 2015. "Who benefits from collective action? Determinants and economic impacts of coffee farmer cooperatives in Ethiopia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211889, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    12. Niyazmetov, Davron & Soliev, Ilkhom & Theesfeld, Insa, 2021. "Ordered to volunteer? Institutional compatibility assessment of establishing agricultural cooperatives in Uzbekistan," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    13. Achilleas Kontogeorgos & Panagiota Sergaki & Anastasia Kosma & Vassiliki Semou, 2018. "Organizational Models for Agricultural Cooperatives: Empirical Evidence for their Performance," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(4), pages 1123-1137, December.
    14. Thomas Kopp & Ashok K. Mishra, 2022. "Perishability and market power in Nepalese food crop production," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 518-540, June.
    15. Matyja, Małgorzata, 2017. "A Comparative Study of Profitability of Agricultural Cooperatives in Poland and Around the World," Problems of World Agriculture / Problemy Rolnictwa Światowego, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, vol. 17(32, Part ), December.
    16. Silvia Sacchetti & Marco Faillo, 2017. "The notion of social responsibility across different types of nonprofit and for profit organizations," Econometica Working Papers wp61, Econometica.
    17. Amiquero, K. (Katty) Sanchez & Wubben, E.F.M. (Emiel) & van Dam, Y.K. (Ynte) & Trienekens, J.H. (Jacques), 2023. "Success and failure factors in agricultural cooperatives," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 14(01), January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    agricultural cooperatives; irreducible transaction costs; reducible transaction costs; new generation cooperatives; structural change; property rights;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy
    • L7 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction
    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture
    • R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics

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