This article identifies how cooperatives benefit farmers and the public, yet are subject to business limitations related to agriculture or the inherent nature of the organization. Cooperative benefits to farmers, rural communities, consumers, and overseas customers are explored, as well as cooperative market power, influence on market prices and services, and accumulation of reserves.
CIR 1 Section 3. 22 pgs. Reprinted 1990. J. Warren Mather and Homer J. Preston.
Library ID Number: 2702
Rediscovering the cooperative advantage: Poverty Reduction through self-help
This volume examines the role and potential of cooperatives in reducing poverty. It includes an analysis of what we understand by the terms poverty and cooperatives and discusses in detail the poverty reduction policies of international organizations and how cooperatives could help achieve their objectives. The historical record of cooperatives in poverty reduction is considered and eleven case studies from different fields of cooperative activity are presented. A key conclusion of this study is that self-organization by the poor is a pre-condition for successful anti-poverty work and that cooperatives can play an important role in this struggle.
This report demonstrates that farmers in a cooperative individually deciding how much to supply to the cooperative may serve as a commitment device for credibility (and profitably) gaining market share in competition with other profit maximizing firms.
Svend Albaek and Christian Schultz University of Copenhagen December 16, 1997
Library ID Number: 7641
Farm Bargaining Co-ops: Group Action, Greater Gain
This report traces the history and development of bargaining cooperatives that have been used by agricultural producers for decades as a self-help tool to enhance the income they realize from the sale of their crops. Case studies illustrate historical and contemporary bargaining association activity. Future challenges and opportunities also are discussed.