European farmers’ organisation Copa-Cogeca has urged farmers to look seriously at the benefits of operating within a cooperative as a means of boosting their market power. The Copa-Cogeca secretary general recommended farmers form cooperatives whilst speaking at an event with other European farmers’ organisations to establish 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.

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The union announced plans to encourage the development and formation of cooperatives in Europe by presenting a European Award for Cooperative Innovation in June and organising a ‘Cooperative Week’ in April to promote collective organisation.

Pekka Pesonen said “Agri-Cooperatives enable farmers to join forces to market their produce; add value to produce; help protect farmers against risks and help ensure product development through research and innovation. In the fruit and vegetables sector, for example, where there are strong seasonal variations in supply, cooperatives play a vital role in balancing out the market”.

The European Commission has recently come forward with plans which it claims will reinforce the role of cooperatives in its proposals on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Pesonen welcomed this news as a “Move in the right direction”. The Commission said it intends to work on each sector and see how producer organisations, such as cooperatives, can be strengthened, focusing in particular on the fruit and vegetables, wine, olive oil and sheep sectors.

Speaking at the Oxford Farming Conference, organic dairy farmer Terry Hehir said that forming into cooperatives is the best defence farmers have against the corporate domination and cooption of agriculture.  He said that cooperatives, organised to promote common aims and interests, are “the only logical structure to address the power imbalance as agriculture journeys further down the path of Trans-National Corporate domination.”