There is ample evidence to suggest that improving the on-farm productivity of small-scale farmers and integrating them into commercial markets is a promising strategy for alleviating poverty and leveraging agriculture as an engine of wider economic growth. Yet, persistent market failures in...

This article takes an innovation intermediary perspective to examine farmer cooperative’s (FC) roles in facilitating agricultural innovation and its positioning in the agricultural innovation system (AIS). The article draws experiences from the rapidly emerging FC field in China. Three cases...

The agrofood market in China is dominated by spot market exchanges of small farmers and various small traders, with only minor penetration of the modern supply chain at the farmgate. The emerging Farmer Professional Cooperatives (FPCs) are expected to facilitate vertical coordination. The...

Coffee producers in many parts of the world have the option of either becoming a member of and selling their coffee to a Fairtrade and organic co-operative, or selling it to a “coyote”, the Central American nickname for intermediary purchaser. This study investigates why different producers...

Traditional farmer cooperatives, new generation farmer cooperatives, and investor-owned firms (IOFs), are compared regarding their value added and value added rate in terms of product marketing. The results of the analysis regarding the pear supply chain in Zhejiang province in China indicate...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze determinants of farmers’ participation and credit rationing in microcredit programs using survey data from Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the Garrett Ranking Technique to analyze farmers’ reasons for participation or...