Consumer and public policy interests in local food systems have increased sharply in recent years. Utilizing a unique data set from a six-county region in Northern New York, an empirical model of vendor performance satisfaction is developed as a function of market, vendor, and customer...

A hedonic cost function is used to isolate the O&M costs for water treatments. For small systems, costs are substantial for some technologies, but not for others. Financial burdens may still be substantial for small systems; rural systems have some cost advantage given input costs relative to...

Since the inception of Pro-Fac Cooperative (PF) in 1960, the cooperative has undergone significant structural and organizational changes. The PF case presents a unique opportunity to examine the changes in the processed fruit and vegetable industry and the strategies adopted by a producer-owned...

An investigation of the relative costs and benefits of marketing channels used by typical smallscale diversified vegetable crop producers is conducted. Using case study evidence from four small farms in Central New York, this study compares the performance of wholesale and direct marketing...

The historical development and performance of rural supply and marketing cooperatives (SMCs) in China are examined and linked to various reform periods. SMCs suffered a loss of focus on members as well as member control during several periods of reform and experienced declining financial...

This publication reviews the legal and business structure alternatives available to those forming business structures in New York State. A framework is developed for assessing various business structural options. Six business organizational forms are discussed, including: 1) sole...

We analyze conflicts between communities. A community-specific public good, to which members make voluntary contributions, defines communities. Some, but not all, members of one community may contribute towards another community’s public good. Such ‘bridging’ contributions will not occur...