Farming Cooperations

In Denmark farming cooperations have been studied during the last six years. Six years ago the phenomenon was hardly known in Denmark. Therefore no theory has been developed about cooperations in the agriculture until now. This study deals with farming cooperations in Denmark. The objective of the study has been to develop a theoretical basis for farming cooperations and after that obtain experiences from established farmers' cooperations and see whether the objectives of the farmers have been fulfilled. An increasing interest in establishing cooperations has developed in recent years in Denmark because of obvious advantages such as saving money, more leisure and less business risk. But there are difficulties too in collaboration between neighboring farms. Farmers now have to agree about decisions with other farmers. They must hold frequent meetings and they must exchange information. They cannot just do what they want any more. The participants have to act like other employees in some ways. Moreover there are some conditions which must be fulfilled in order to make the cooperation a success. The participants must have confidence in each other. They must be able to collaborate, they must like each other in some way and the distance between them in miles must not be too far. The very interesting question is whether the advantages more than compensate for the disadvantages. Or put in another way: Has the utility of the farmers raised by joining a cooperation. That is what this study is about.