The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has called for more support to be given to farmers wishing to form agricultural cooperatives during the international 'year of the cooperative.' FAO said agricultural cooperatives, which already benefit millions of small-scale farmers, could expand and make an even greater contribution against poverty and hunger, if they were given the right support by governments, civil society and academia.

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The cooperative model has been promoted as one which gives farmers strength through unity, enabling them to amplify their combined voices to better counter the power exerted by large companies and overcome other barriers, including reduced access to markets. The FAO said on World Food Day (16th October) that cooperatives represent the "key to feeding the world."

A number of sustainable farming and food policy initiatives have suggested the cooperative model can help rebalance inequalities which are responsible for much of the hunger and poverty afflicting the world. On Tuesday, their calls were given support from an unexpected source. Speaking on the topic of World Food Day, Pope Benedict XVI said, "Agricultural cooperatives have an alternative vision to those economic models that seem to have as their only goals, profit, the interests of the markets, the use of food crops for non-food purposes and the introduction of new food production technologies without the necessary precautions."

He added, "The presence of cooperatives can put an end to the trend of speculation in essential food commodities intended for human consumption, and reduce the large-scale acquisition of arable lands that in many regions forces farmers off their land because by themselves they are too weak to defend their rights."

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva also highlighted cooperatives’ role as a major means of protecting the interests of smaller farmers, lifting them out of poverty and hunger in some regions. He said small-scale farmers currently have poor access to markets to sell their products and a lack of bargaining power to buy inputs at better prices, which entering into cooperatives could change. He urged governments to increase support for producer organisations.

Graziano da Silva said, "Agricultural cooperatives can help smallholders overcome these constraints. Cooperatives play a crucial role in generating employment, reducing poverty, and improving food security, and contributing to the gross domestic product in many countries."

Senior UN officials and representatives of the International Fund on Agricultural Development also extolled the benefits of the model during a ceremony to mark World Food Day in Rome. Speaking at the event, World Food Programme Executive Director Ertharin Cousin spoke on the need for social safety nets for those who could barely feed themselves.

She said,  "In our world, too many still struggle to find their next meal. Social protection and safety net programmes enable the most vulnerable, particularly women and children, to lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. These programmes provide a cushion that is otherwise unavailable and build resilience against economic and environmental shocks."

In January, Nuffield scholar and influential organic dairy farmer Terry Hehir addressed the Oxford Farming Conference on the subject of Power in Global Agriculture; he maintained that "Farmer cooperatives are the only logical structure to address the power imbalance as agriculture journeys further down the path of [corporate] domination."   

Hehir argued that, effectively balanced and equitable cooperatives are the starting point for creating a sustainable food system. He said, "The current water intensive, fertiliser intensive and energy intensive agricultural practices of European countries are unsustainable in the near future.  If we accept the paradigm that modern agriculture must consume vast amounts of non-renewable natural resources, the future of mankind is utterly dependent on finding better ways to farm."

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