Abstract
Cooperatives cover a large part of the agricultural sectors and have substantial market shares in agri-food supply chains in the EU Western countries. They account for approximately half of agricultural trade in the EU. By contrast, in the EU Western countries, where farmer cooperatives are widespread and successful, agricultural cooperation in Lithuania has developed intermittently in the last century. We still have very limited knowledge of why the country’s agricultural producers (especially smallholder farmers) are reluctant to cooperate in Lithuania. The aim of this study is to assess the level of the willingness to cooperate among smallholder farmers in Lithuania and to draw up the profiles of small-scale farms that participate in and intend to join cooperatives and, conversely, that do not participate in cooperatives and do not intend to do so. To achieve this goal, a representative survey of small-scale farms was conducted. Results of surveys carried out in 2019 in Lithuania on a group of 1002 small-scale farms showed that only 8% of the surveyed farms participate in producer groups or cooperatives, while another 8% intend to participate. Small-scale farms in Lithuania have weak market integration, with no bargaining power on input and output markets. The vast majority of small-scale farms are reluctant to participate in cooperative activities in Lithuania. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the profile of a small farm that tends to cooperate. The main social characteristics of farm managers and economic factors of farms willing to cooperate have been identified.
Highlights
There are more than forty thousand agricultural cooperatives in Europe with nine million farmer members [1]
In terms of physical size, half of all farms had less than 5 hectares of utilized agricultural area (UAA), while a further one-third farmed on an area 10–20 hectares in size
This study aims to assess the level of the willingness to cooperate among smallholder farmers in Lithuania and to draw up the profiles of small-scale farms that participate in and intend to join cooperatives
Summary
There are more than forty thousand agricultural cooperatives in Europe with nine million farmer members [1]. Cooperatives cover a large part of the agricultural sectors and have substantial market shares in agri-food supply chains in the European Union (EU). They account for approximately half of agricultural trade in the EU and over half in some member states such as Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Sweden. The existence of cooperative organizations in today’s business environment, in agriculture, signals their continued ability to provide value to their members [5] by increasing farms’ (especially small-scale farms) competitiveness on the national and international markets [6,7]. Agricultural cooperatives have provided a model for overcoming the disadvantages of small-scale farming for more than 150 years [8]. It should be added that the process of farm cooperation in modern Lithuania was decisively influenced by the historical path of agricultural development and the experience of the agricultural community
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