EMPOWERING FAMILY FARMS THROUGH COOPERATIVES AND PRODUCER MARKETING BOARDS

The connections between family farms and the organizations linking the m to the agrocommodity chains have been neglected in debates about the reproduction of family farms. We use the example of cooperatives and producer marketing boards in the main agricultural export industries o f New Zealand to inform this debate. Regulation by central government has been crucial to the establishment and continuance of producer mark eting boards, especially in the face of substantial neoliberal critici sm of their very existence. Critics of producer marketing boards-the N ew Zealand Department of Treasury, nonfarm capitals, and one corporate agriculturalist-argue on the basis of theoretical efficiency, but off er little empirical evidence. Using insights from the family farm and cooperation literatures, we argue that cooperatives and producer marke ting boards help shield family farms from the full costs of market rel ations, assist shareholders in capturing downstream profits, enable fa rmers to develop and maintain ownership of new technology, reduce comp etition among farmers, and allow farmers more control of their industr ies than would otherwise be the case.