Farmers' Cooperatives and Sustainable Food Systems in Europe

Farmers' Cooperatives and Sustainable Food Systems in Europe
Author: Raquel Ajates Gonzalez
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2018-06-13
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1351216287

Farmers' cooperatives are very prevalent in the European Union, where they account for approximately half of agricultural trade and thus are key to articulating rural realities and in shaping the sustainability credentials of European food and farming. This book analyses to what extent farmers' cooperatives are working to benefit their members, are showing concern for their communities and are promoting cooperative economies. It offers a multilevel set of theoretical, disciplinary, methodological, empirical and social perspectives, using the UK and Spain as contrasting examples, and analyses whether agricultural cooperatives contribute to achieving sustainable food systems. The book presents empirical data from diverse and rich case studies, from large, international cooperatives, to small, multi-stakeholder initiatives. This provides an alternative viewpoint to that of economics, which tends to dominate the study of agricultural cooperatives. The author presents a new theoretical framework that provides a novel lens to study farmers’ cooperatives as organisations deeply embedded in power dynamics of the food system and agricultural policy that shape and constraint their potential to adopt cooperative and sustainable practices. The book is a major addition to the study of agricultural cooperatives and their impact in the development of fairer and more sustainable food systems and it is one of the first detailed accounts of multi-stakeholder food and farming cooperatives in Europe. It is a valuable resource for all scholars working on cooperatives, as well as for students studying agricultural and food policy, environmental justice and rural sociology.

The Agricultural Cooperative in the Framework of the European Cooperative Society

The Agricultural Cooperative in the Framework of the European Cooperative Society
Author: Georg Miribung
Publisher:
Total Pages: 570
Release: 2020
Genre: Agriculture, Cooperative
ISBN: 9783030441555

This book assesses the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) regarding agricultural activities by comparing how specific questions arising in this context must be dealt with under the Italian and Austrian legal systems. In this regard, Council Regulation (EC) No. 1435/2003, of 22 July 2003, on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE), is used as a tool for the structured analysis of various aspects of agricultural cooperatives. However, a comparison is only meaningful if the results are made comparable on the basis of a previously defined standard. Accordingly, the study uses, on one hand, a cooperative model developed by European legal scholars that defines general guidelines on how cooperatives should function (PECOL). On the other, the results are presented in connection with economic considerations to discuss how efficient rules can be developed.

Farmers' Cooperatives in Europe

Farmers' Cooperatives in Europe
Author: Caroline Gijselinckx
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014
Genre:
ISBN:

English Abstract: Membership rates of agricultural co-operatives vary widely across member states of the European Union. Inspired by various strands of literature (institutionalism, social capital theory, literature on transition countries and the 'software of the mind'), we investigate historical and social determinants of those differences. We find that social capital and the legacy of communism are significantly correlated with the attractiveness of the co-operative sector for farmers, while the Hofstede indicators, measuring deeply rooted cultural values that otherwise are so robust and have correlations with many entrepreneurial and organizational aspects, are not. We describe our analysis and elaborate on the limits and implications of the data used and methodology applied.

Co-operative Marketing in European Agriculture

Co-operative Marketing in European Agriculture
Author: G. R. Foxall
Publisher: Gower Publishing Company, Limited
Total Pages: 120
Release: 1982
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Monograph comprising a comparison of cooperative marketing of agricultural products (agricultural cooperatives) in EC countries - discusses the objectives, institutional framework, membership, financial management, agricultural management, profitability, state intervention, provision of agricultural credit, etc., and comments on economic legislation. Bibliography pp. 96 to 101 and references.