The historical aspects of the foundation and functioning of the agricultural cooperation in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the foundation and functioning of the agricultural cooperation. The aim of the article is to analyze the historical development of the agricultural cooperation on the territory of Ukraine from ancient times to the present.
 The article reveals the main stages of the development of the agricultural cooperation, at each of which the peculiarities of its functioning are investigated.
 For the first time the concept of cooperation was implemented by the «Rochdale pioneers» in October 1844, while in Ukraine the starting point for the beginning of the cooperation activity is 1866, the year of approval of the Kharkiv Consumer Society charter, that testifies to the long history of the cooperation on the territory of Ukraine and the presence of significant experience of the national cooperative movement. In order to resume the development of agricultural cooperation on July 21, 2020, was adopted a new edition of the Law of Ukraine «On Agricultural Cooperation», which developers of the legal act consider to be the «Constitution» of agricultural cooperation.
 In the course of the research, it was found that to date, in the modern science of agrarian law, insufficient attention is paid to the study of the historical aspects of the foundation and functioning of the agricultural cooperation, despite the fact that agricultural cooperation has a special social and economic significance for our state, and is an integral part of the national agrarian policy, which determines the relevance of the chosen research topic.
 The author concluded that the study of the historical experience of the foundation and functioning of the agricultural cooperation will contribute to the determination of the main guidelines for the modernization of the state agricultural policy at the current stage, the prevention of the repeated adoption of erroneous decisions, the elimination of factors that restrain the development of agricultural cooperation, and the provision of favorable conditions for the effective functioning of cooperative movement.
 The article is based on methods of synthesis and analysis, historical, formal and logical, as well as other general scientific and special research methods.