COOPERATION WITH GENERA PARTNERS IN DAIRY FARMING IN SOUTHERN GERMANY

Till now there are only a few cooperations with general partners in da iry farming in Southern Germany. The governmental agricultural extensi on service of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg is of the opinion that coo perative farming is a good strategy to develop dairy farms. Family far ms that are expanding have increasing problems in meeting their labour requirements. Interviews with cooperations In dairy farms in Southern Germany show that a fusion of farms lends to social benefits. In cont rast to that cooperations with general partners have some important di sadvantages: Decisions about cooperation issues are difficult to achie ve and the partners lose their independence and self-employment. In pr inciple cooperative farming is one of several possibilities to organiz e dairy farms. However, running cooperations of dairy farms stresses t he personal relationship between partners and their families. Therefor e, only a small number of farmers are suited for cooperation with coll eagues.