Agricultural co-operation and syndication in Great Britain and Europe

Abstract

Agricultural co=operation is not new to British agricuture. It's roots go back many years, and in the early days it was concerned mostly with the supply of requisites. Later, well after World War 2 when the agricultural surpluses had built up again, policy extended to cover marketing. Co-operatives had the reputation in the early days of being somewhat inept, vaguely socialistic enterprises. Today they have far outgrown this original concept, and are generally recognised as a special kind of managerial institution that is very much an integral part of a strong private enterprise system. The last 25 years have seen a considerable increase in the amount of on-farm co-operation, and although progress has been spasmodic, the number of production groups and syndicates has grown. There are now close to 400 co-operative societies and 180 co-operative companies, most of which are found in England, and well over 100 machinery syndicates. In April of 1979 I set out on a study tour of Great Britain and, to a lesser extent, Europe. My brief was to study: * Farm machinery co-operatives * Other farm co-operatives * Land tenure.