Cooperation or Single Farm Action

Why is better to cooperate

• You have partners who share your goals and help you to face difficulties: you are not alone.
• You can take on actions for which you would not have the capacity on your own (complex investments, high budgets, etc.).
• The approach is generally more holistic and diverse, because it incorporates the different points of view of the partners.
• You can share tasks and delegate responsibilities among the partners.
• Cost reduction (economies of scale) on buying inputs and sharing some services.
• You can obtaining better prices, by having a stronger position in the market.

Why is better to do it yourself

• No profit sharing.
• No need to find other producers with common interests or needs.
• No conflicts with partners, no need for consensus on actions: you have full control over decisions.
• The producer sets his own pace of work. Faster decision-making.
• No need to suffer the consequences of the mistakes of others. Everything is on your own responsibility.

Strengths

• Recognition of the potential of collaborative arrangements.
• Improves the quality of life and incomes of those involved.
• Facilitated growth and achievement of scale.
• Improved efficiency and economies of scale (reduction in production costs; marketing; distribution).
• Increased productivity for some farms which were in decline.
• More options for new entrants to become established in farming.
• Intergenerational and inter-farmer transfer of knowledge and experience.
• Number of options for collaboration being explored and developed.
• Social orientation.
• Improvement in market access.
• Enables collective acquisition of equipment and services.

Opportunities

• Significant potential for further growth in cooperation.
• New structures being developed.
• Expansion into other sectors.
• Potential to grow and prosper through political incentives & measures (rural development programme).
• Enhanced professionalization (business management, technical operations, digital technologies).
• Promotion of innovation and searching for new markets (internationalization).
• Collaboration among cooperatives.

Weaknesses

• Limited vision or failure to inspire.
• Lack of clear purpose or inconsistent understanding of purpose.
• Competition between partners for the lead or domination by one partner.
• Unequal and/or unacceptable balance of power and control.
• Key stakeholders missing from the partnership.
• Lack of commitment and unwilling participants.
• Lack of support from organizations with decision-making power in the partnership.

Threats

• Differences in philosophies or work styles.
• Inadequate understanding of roles and responsibilities.
• Hidden agendas.
• Failure to communicate.
• Failure to learn.
• Lack of evaluation of monitoring systems.
• Financial and time commitments outweigh potential benefits.

BONUS: Factors that support and encourage cooperation

• Tradition, culture, history.
• Social and economic environment.
• Policy supports (on agriculture and international trading).
• Legal framework.
• Taxation policies.
• Support structures (advisory services, research, public agencies, NGO, volunteer­ing, etc.).
• Human resources.
• Knowledge and skills transfer (formal and non formal education and training).
• Unforeseen factors that motivate collaboration in crisis situations.
• Innovative business models (new products, new processes, etc.).