Journal Articles
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915
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Item The Role of Agriculture Cooperatives in Green Agri-Food Value Chains in China: Cases in Shandong Province(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2025-08-14) Liu Y; Garnevska E; Shadbolt N; El Bilali HWhile escalating environment and food safety challenges underscore the need for sustainable agri-food systems, promoting green agri-food production provides a promising pathway. The green agri-food value chain integrates green agri-food production with coordinated value-adding activities across the value chain. In developing such value chains, agricultural cooperatives emerge as a key player. This research integrates sustainability and value chain theories, aiming to study the role of China’s cooperatives in enabling green production and green value chains. It used qualitative methodology and interviews with management and members of three green vegetable cooperatives in Shandong Province, China, to offer an initial examination into this research area. The findings reveal that cooperatives play an important role in the green vegetable value chain and have a different level of vertical integration, with some having control over the whole value chain from input supply to retail. They also provide essential input, technical, and market support to enable green vegetable production and facilitate various value-adding activities. The study offers valuable insights into recommendations for enhancing value addition and facilitating green value chains. It also holds practical implications for practitioners and policymakers to strengthen cooperative development in China as an important intermediary for advancing agriculture sustainability.Item Organizational structures of agriculture cooperatives in China: Evidence from the green vegetable sector(Elsevier B.V., 2024-06-19) Liu Y; Garnevska E; Shadbolt NChina's agriculture cooperatives are playing a pivotal role in promoting rural development and boosting farmers’ income. As a result of the rapidly changing external environment, diverse types of cooperatives have emerged. However, a comprehensive understanding of the organizational structures, including ownership, control, and benefit rights, of different types of cooperatives, is limited. This study analyzes the organizational structures of two types of cooperatives in China: entrepreneur-led cooperatives and government-led cooperatives. Qualitative methodology was used in this study, including semi-structured interviews with four green vegetable production cooperatives in Shandong province. Results reveal the structural differences between these two types of case cooperatives. Despite the shared ownership, control, and benefit rights among members, entrepreneur-led cooperatives are characterized by the dominance of core members in capital contribution, control rights, and dividend distribution; whereas government-led cooperatives distribute those rights more equally among all members. The findings in this study present a more comprehensive landscape of the organizational structures of China's cooperatives. Empirically, it demonstrates how cooperatives can evolve and vary across laws and cultures, even within the same legislative background. Additionally, it offers crucial insights for these cooperatives to develop and sustain long-term vitality.