The Interaction Between Farmer Specialized Cooperatives And Their Region Environment

Farmer specialized cooperatives are product of specifically environmental conditions including social, economic, natural environment. On the other hand, the development of farmer specialized cooperatives has an impact on the region environment. Farmer specialized cooperatives and their region environment is the relationship of interaction. Farmer specialized cooperatives and region environment can not only select mutually but also develop independently.With the development of the market economy, in the process of agricultural trade the farmers that are the weak position unite to defend their own interests. This is the original intention of farmers developing cooperatives. However, in practice, the formation and development of most of farmer specialized cooperatives mainly depend on external forces including the rural grass roots organizations, agricultural enterprises, local government and so on. According to the different socio-economic environment, these external forces exert the different effects in the development of cooperatives. It is the paradox of reality that the formation and development of cooperatives are led by those strong external forces at this stage of our country. In particular, this kind of phenomenon is more obvious in Henan province. Henan province has the characteristics of the less developed economy, located inland, traditional agricultural region.In this paper, the research system of the interaction between cooperatives and their region environment is built on the basic of reviewing and exploring to the results of domestic and international cooperatives research. This paper inherits the opinion of alliance school of cooperatives research and uses the method of induction and deduction based on organization theories, network theories, external economic theories and the practical activities of cooperatives. The empirical study is used to analysis the relation between cooperatives and their region environment, so three cooperatives are selected, that is, Goushi Grape Specialized Cooperatives in Tangsengsi village, Daikou Vegetable Specialized Cooperatives in Han village and Nanmazhuang Rice Producers Cooperatives in Nanmazhuang village. It focuses on the formation path of these cooperatives, and the impact of these cooperatives on region environment. It explores the regional environmental factors that impacts on the formation of farmer cooperatives in Henan province, and the power mechanism to promote the formation of cooperatives. And then it concludes the relation of co-evolution of farmer specialized cooperatives and their region environment. This paper is divided into seven parts.As an introduction, Chapter One first presents the background and significance of the selected title and the research areas. Then, based on a review of farmer cooperatives theories and relevant documents, it brings ideas, framework, and research methods of this paper.Chapter Two elucidates the theoretical foundations of the interaction relation between farmer specialized cooperatives and their region environment, such as organization theories, farmer behavior theory, network theories, and external economic theories. Then, based on these theories, it proposed the formation of farmer cooperatives depending on the result of farmers breaching collective action dilemma, cooperative game between farmers, the farmer uniting grounded on social network, and all kinds of participants joining who are linked together by common interests to build a actor network. As well as, under the role of external economic effect, the development of cooperatives profoundly influences their region environment.Chapter Three analyses the status and characteristics of farmer specialty cooperative economic organizations in Henan province. In Henan the organizations have the characteristics, such as they are weak as a whole, they have the limited scope of influence, and they are created mainly by village elites and rural grass roots cadres. Because of researching the relation between farmer specialized cooperatives and their region environment, and the relevant data obtained by a large number of detailed field surveys, it is impossible for investigating all of the farmer specialized cooperatives in Henan province. In accordance with the principle of merit, representative and feasibility, finally three farmer specialized cooperatives as cases are selected from the farmer specialty cooperative economic organizations in Henan province. Then the survey finds that three cases represent the different formation under the influence of three different socio-economic environments.Chapter Four studies the regional environmental factors influencing on the formation of the farmer specialized cooperatives. Firstly, the regional environmental influence factors are summarized, which are divided into exogenous and endogenous ones. Secondly, the evaluation index system is designed. Thirdly, the evaluation results are concluded that the decisive factors influencing on the formation of cooperatives are lead person, market rate and governmental propaganda. Finally, from the perspective of farmers the motivation of participating in cooperatives is analyzed in different region environment. Chapter Five explores the mechanism and path of cooperatives formation. It can summarize the formation mechanism of cooperatives from two aspects of inherent and extrinsic. Because of the common drive of the inherent and extrinsic power mechanism, the farmer specialized cooperatives have the unique formation path. Under the role of extrinsic power mechanism, some actors, such as agricultural enterprises, government and so on, linked together by common interests to build the farmer specialized cooperatives together. As well as, farmers are driven and agglomerated to take part in cooperatives by village elites and their social network. The formation and development of economic organizations is in the interaction process of environment and individual behaviors. Because of the collective action dilemma and organization cost, the establishment of cooperatives is given impetus to not only by farmers, but also by some associated actors, such as agricultural enterprises, government and so on. In addition, local natural resources influence the development of farmer specialized cooperatives.Chapter Six engages in a study of the farmer specialized cooperatives impact on their region environment and the co-evolution relation between cooperatives and their region environment. Firstly, the empirical method is used to study the impact of cooperatives on their region environment, including the aspects of rural society, economy, and culture. However, the cooperatives by different ways to launch have the different effects on their region environment. Secondly, it expounds the co-evolution relation between region environment and cooperatives. For the purpose of searching for and creating competitive advantages, the farmer specialized cooperatives come into being and develop in dynamic environment. As well as, the development of cooperatives can push region environment to achieve a new status.Chapter Seven is the last part of the paper. Main findings are concluded and further study programs are suggested in this study.