Implementing an Innovative Educational Program Delivery Strategy to Teach 2014 Farm Bill Changes to Ohio Farmers and Landowners

The timing and complexity of the 2014 Farm Bill required quick dissemination of technical information to allow participants to make decisions affecting risk management strategies for their farms. Using existing organizational structures and incorporating a team approach allowed Ohio State University Extension educators to successfully meet the educational needs of Ohio\u27s farmers and landowners. Program success followed due to Extension\u27s commitments to providing proper training, support, and reward to educators and to working cooperatively with external agencies to achieve the identified outcomes

What determines women's participation in collective action? Evidence from a western Ugandan coffee cooperative

Women smallholders face greater constraints than men in accessing capital and commodity markets in Sub-Saharan Africa. Collective action has been promoted to remedy those disadvantages. Using survey data of 421 women members and 210 nonmembers of a coffee producer cooperative in Western Uganda, this study investigates the determinants of women's participation in cooperatives and women's intensity of participation. The results highlight the importance of access to and control over land for women to join the cooperative in the first place. Participation intensity is measured through women's participation in collective coffee marketing and share capital contributions. It is found that duration of membership, access to extension services, more equal intrahousehold power relations, and joint land ownership positively influence women's ability to commit to collective action. These findings demonstrate the embeddedness of collective action in gender relations and the positive value of women's active participation for agricultural-marketing cooperatives

Key Success Factors for Emerging Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives

Cooperatives comprise an important part of the American agricultural system. Key factors important to the success of agricultural marketing cooperatives were identified and statistically analyzed using data collected from fifty-two cooperatives. The research quantified the effects of several independent variables on the probability of success. These variables were: sufficient equity before start up, maintaining an adequate business volume, keeping and distributing accurate financial records, importance of previous cooperatives experience and continued management training for both the board and manager, marketing agreements. Based on this research and the comprehensive literature review, marketing cooperatives can increase their chances of success by adhering to the recommendations set forth in this study

Key Success Factors for Emerging Agricultural Marketing Cooperatives

Cooperatives comprise an important part of the American agricultural system. Key factors important to the success of agricultural marketing cooperatives were identified and statistically analyzed using data collected from fifty-two cooperatives. The research quantified the effects of several independent variables on the probability of success. These variables were: sufficient equity before start up, maintaining an adequate business volume, keeping and distributing accurate financial records, importance of previous cooperatives experience and continued management training for both the board and manager, marketing agreements. Based on this research and the comprehensive literature review, marketing cooperatives can increase their chances of success by adhering to the recommendations set forth in this study.Agribusiness, Marketing,