Networking in Meat Production Systems: The Influence of Cooperative Structures on Farmers’ Participation

Against the background of increasing competitive pressures and growing requirements with regard to food quality and safety, the significance of network-wide collaboration in food production has been pointed out in recent years. With this in mind, it is the objective of this paper to analyse pig farmers’ network participation in general and to explore whether cooperative structures in food supply chains influence the type as well as the quality of farmers’ network relations. Our results show that cooperative structures influence pig fattening farmers’ network participation concerning relationship quality with slaughterhouses as well as farmers’ choice of network partners for information exchange and consultancy. Furthermore, the results show that farmers delivering to cooperatively owned processors evaluate the relationship with their slaughterhouses significantly better than farmers dealing with private slaughterhouses. The results provide cooperatives with starting points for developing attractive services for farmers and improving their relationships with their suppliers.