Review of the Book “The Legal and Economic Aspects of Associations and Agricultural Producers in Selected Countries of The World” by Aneta Suchoń (Editor)

Abstract

Prof. UAM Dr. hab. Aneta Suchoń presents with this publication a very remarkable book about the legal form of the cooperative and the functions of the cooperative in agriculture. She has succeeded in winning recognised experts from several countries for the project. Eight authors have each written a country report. One author contributes a fundamental article on agricultural organisation law. And one author has written an overview article on the worldwide development of the agricultural cooperative movement. In addition to the country report on Poland, the editor herself presents the introduction to the book and an overview article on the emergence and development of agricultural cooperative law worldwide and in Europe. At the beginning of her introduction, Aneta Suchoń characterises agriculture in a concise manner with the following words, thereby simultaneously justifying the great need for co– operation in agriculture within the framework of cooperatives (p. 13): «Agriculture, which fulfi ls important economic, social and spatial functions, is a signifi cant branch of the economy. Its chief aims focus on the production of food and raw resources for various branches of the industry, and more broadly speaking, on the supply of public goods. At the same time, there is a high level of fi nancial uncertainty for agricultural producers, due to, for example, the relatively high costs associated with agricultural activity, the price changes of agricultural products and the impact of weather conditions. In addition, agricultural producers, especially European ones, have to meet more and more requirements related to areas such as environmental protection, public health, and animal health. Taking into account the high degree of fi nancial uncertainty experienced by agricultural producers, associated with the relatively high costs related to agricultural activities, the collective action of farmers is necessary to reduce the costs of agricultural production, achieve higher prices for agricultural products and increase their competitiveness in the market.» Specifi cally for the USA, Aneta Suchoń explains (p. 16) that the majority of the approximately two million farmers belong to one or more cooperatives. Around 30 per cent of all agricultural products are sold through about 3000 manufacturing cooperatives. In this context, it should be mentioned that in the USA, a special antitrust law for agricultural cooperatives, especially in the dairy sector, has been in force for around 100 years, which privileges cooperatives by offering farmers opportunities to build countervailing power against the highly concentrated buyer side (see Paul Richli/Christian Busse, Competition rules in agriculture, General report of Commission I, in: CEDR [ed.], Agriculture and Competition, XXIX European Congress and Colloquium of Rural Law, Baden–Baden 2019, p..133 ff.). According to Suchoń, there are around 22,000 agricultural cooperatives in the European Union, and their total turnover exceeds EUR 347 billion. They have more than a 50% share in deliveries of the means of agricultural production and more than 60% in the purchasing, processing and marketing of agricultural products. The European Union has also recognised that it is essential to give farmers more opportunities to organise countervailing power against the highly concentrated buyer side, which has been achieved with Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. This puts European antitrust law into perspective, especially for cooperatives. Suchoń rightly cites Section 131 of its Preamble which says (S. 17): «Producer organisations and their associations can play useful roles in concentrating supply, in improving the marketing, planning and adjusting of production to demand, optimising production costs and stabilising producer prices, carrying out research, promoting best practices and providing technical assistance, managing by–products and risk manage-