The agricultural cooperative between tradition and innovation. The case of the province of Trento

In recent years Euricse has sought through its research to better understand and raise awareness of the role of agricultural cooperation in general (Fontanari and Borzaga, 2015) and especially in the province of Trento. In particular, it has shown that, if the induced effects are also taken into account, the value produced by agriculture in Trentino, and primarily by agricultural cooperation, is far greater than the value resulting from provincial accounts. In addition, the in-depth study of some case studies focused on individual cooperatives revealed the nature of these organizations as supply chain bodies, with a strategic and growing role not only in product marketing but also in knowledge management and dissemination (Fontanari, 2018).

It is precisely the relevance of agricultural cooperation and the identification of some new elements regarding their economic justification that have suggested further and deeper investigation of the functions, traditional and new, of this organizational model. Especially also as a result of the indications contained in the Rural Development Program (RDP) 2014 – 2020, in which particular emphasis is placed on innovation and the need to find tools and build an operational environment (‘Operational Groups’) suitable for facilitating the transfer of knowledge to farms.

An exploratory survey of a significant sample of agricultural cooperatives operating in the province of Trento was conducted to investigate the various activities carried out by modern agricultural cooperation. Two questionnaires were used in the survey, one addressed to the top management figure of the cooperative and the other to a sample of members. A total of 19 cooperatives and 135 members were interviewed.