Economists and scientists in France have studied the resilience displayed by the country's agricultural cooperatives in the face of the current economic crisis.  

France has long supported the cooperative model of production; cooperatives have enjoyed legal recognition since 1947 and three out of four farmers are involved in a cooperative in the country. The model is also winning support across Europe, benefitting from increased recognition and bargaining power under the reformed Common Agricultural Policy and having been championed by groups including the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which dubbed 2012 'year of the cooperative.'

Reporting earlier this year, researchers from institutes GAIA SAD, a cooperative research organisation based in Bordeaux, and the AGIR research unit in Toulouse said the place of cooperatives has enabled them to preserve rural jobs, strengthen local economies and add value to local products, which keeps money circulating longer within a given region, and can amplify its positive effects.

They also said that, by providing mutual support and advisory services for their members, a number of cooperatives were found to be more resilient in the face of economic and strategic pressures. This cohesion also improved uptake of more environmentally friendly measures.

Nevertheless, the researchers did report an overall decline in the number of cooperatives. Mergers and acquisitions mean the trend in agricultural cooperatives, as with other areas of farming, has been for more concentrated but fewer organisations. The researchers said this is not necessarily a negative trend, as evidence suggests coops may be able to reduce costs, acquire new skills and develop strategic alliances in this way.  

Reporting on the groups' findings, Patricia Le Crenn-Brulon, from French state research unit INRA's department in Rennes, said, "The status of French cooperatives… has enabled cooperatives to combine the upholding of their traditional values of solidarity, transparency and democracy with becoming competitive players in international markets."

Speaking at the Oxford Real Farming Conference in January this year, Mike Perry of the Plunkett Foundation, which supports community and cooperative ownership projects in rural Britain, said the worldwide cooperative economy includes one billion members, spread over one million cooperatives, with 100 million employees.

In a pre-echo of the INRA organisations' findings, he said, "the cooperative economy is more resilient in the current climate". The "new cooperative economy," which includes more varied businesses such as shops and pubs in rural regions, has brought new hope to communities suffering from the effects of rural neglect and austerity measures. Perry added, in the words of the Foundation's creator – agricultural reformer and MP Horace Plunkett, "Economic change is the best way to secure social change."  

More information on the French research is available from INRA here.

Figures from research into the cooperative and community food sector conducted by the Plunkett Foundation and Making Local Food Work programme are available here.