Institutional context of agricultural cooperatives functioning: regional peculiarities

Abstract

   Relevance. The problem of the dynamic development of agricultural cooperation is again becoming a priority item on the agenda of agricultural producers, politicians and scientists, due to new complexities and challenges of a political, climatic, biological and other nature.   One of its points is the assessment of the quality of the institutional environment for the functioning of agrarian cooperatives, in connection with which the purpose of the study presented in the article is the review and analysis of its content, moreover, taking into account the existing regional characteristics.   Methods. To study and assess the state of formal and informal institutions that favor or restrict the activities of cooperatives, the work uses qualitative and quantitative survey and analytical methods (in particular, formal-logical, historical, cultural, comparative) and corresponding tools. At the same time, the empirical base was made up of statistical information from Rosstat and its regional body (Department of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Sverdlovsk region and the Kurgan region), as well as materials obtained as a result of sociological surveys, including in-depth interviews with agricultural producers (actual and potential participants in cooperation).   Results. The main results of the study include theoretical and applied (rigorously verified) generalizations regarding: (1) the directions and degree of influence of the institutional environment on the success of agricultural cooperatives, (2) the possibilities of transforming the institutional environment in a positive direction for cooperation, (3) options for coordinated changes in formal and informal institutions for the formation of positive trends in the development of agricultural cooperation. The main conclusion is that, while informal institutions, being conservative and immobile, significantly impede the rapid and effective formation of agricultural cooperatives in the Russian Federation, it is the formal environment, which has great potential for timely adaptation, that is able to neutralize some of the serious obstacles to successful evolution of cooperative practices in agricultural sector.