Farmers’ self-reported value of cooperative membership: evidence from heterogeneous business and organization structures

Agricultural and Food Economics

Table 4 Differences in the significance of membership benefits according to the cooperative type

Statement on the benefits		Supply dairy	Marketing dairy	Meat
The cooperative offers a stable market channel***		% of producers
	Significant	90^a	83^a,b	83^b
	Neutral	8	13	12
	Insignificant	2	4	5
The cooperative is obliged to collect all of my production 1)***
	Significant	92^a	89^a,b	78^b
	Neutral	6	9	15
	Insignificant	2	2	7
Better possibilities to expand my agricultural production***
	Significant	68^a	70^a	46^b
	Neutral	23	25	38
	Insignificant	9	6	16
The cooperative operates in the nearby region***
	Significant	67^a	85^b	48^c
	Neutral	24	15	36
	Insignificant	9	0	16
The cooperative offers good services to the members***
	Significant	73^a	78^a	46^b
	Neutral	21	22	37
	Insignificant	6	0	17
The cooperative pays a competitive producer price***
	Significant	89^a	85^a	63^b
	Neutral	9	13	22
	Insignificant	2	2	15
I gain other, non-pecuniary benefits from the cooperative***
	Significant	58^a	73^b	42^c
	Neutral	32	20	37
	Insignificant	20	7	21
Benefit from a good bargaining position through the cooperative***
	Significant	67^a	70^a	45^b
	Neutral	23	17	37
	Insignificant	9	13	19
Cooperative capital is an attractive investment instrument
	Significant	57^a	58^a	58^a
	Neutral	30	31	27
	Insignificant	13	11	16
Membership provides me taxation gains
	Significant	47^a	50^a	46^a
	Neutral	35	30	37
	Insignificant	18	20	18
Control in the governance of the cooperative
	Significant	42^a	42^a	35^a
	Neutral	37	40	35
	Insignificant	22	18	31
Influence in decisions that promote my own business
	Significant	50^a	49^a	45^a
	Neutral	33	35	30
	Insignificant	17	16	25
Opportunity to carry out work that supports the community
	Significant	44^a	42^a	37^a
	Neutral	37	44	37
	Insignificant	19	15	26

Membership secures the marketing of all of my production. Superscripts a, b, and c denote the results of the z-test, which compares the column proportions. Different letters indicate differences and the level of significance is tested with Fisher exact test. Fisher’s exact test ***(p < 0.01), **(p < 0.05), *(p < 0.1)