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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Producer Cooperatives

Producer owned and democratically-controlled organizations that serve their members (who may or may not be themselves cooperatives) through cooperative marketing, support and/or purchasing.

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February 26, 2024

Danish Creamery Co-ops in the Late Nineteenth Century

Summary

We consider the relative contributions of changing technology and institutions for economic growth through the investigation of a natural experiment in history: the almost simultaneous introduction of the automatic cream separator and the cooperative ownership form in the Danish dairy industry from around 1880. Using a new database of statistics from creameries and the tool of stochastic frontier analysis, we find that both institutions and technology were important for the success of the Danish dairy industry and, by implication, the growth and early development of the Danish economy.

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February 22, 2024

Battle River Railway Co-op

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Summary

In this episode of Each For All: The Co-operative Connection, host Robin Puga sits down with Matthew Enright, the General Manager of the Battle River Railway Co-operative (BRR).

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November 20, 2023

The Pioneers of Cooperativism and Climate Justice: Owen, Fourier, Du Bois

Summary

In response to the ambitious call of the Platform Cooperative Consortium, I will seek to examine them through the lens of environmental scholars. Can these cooperative pioneers also provide insights into climate justice?

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July 3, 2023

The Co-op Food System We Need

Summary

Shylah Wolfe spoke to Dru Oja Jay about what kinds of cooperative systems for food production, distribution and processing are already being built and how we'll probably have to expand them pretty rapidly to feed ourselves.

 

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June 16, 2023

Five Stylized Facts about Producer Organizations & Rural Development

Summary

Producer organizations (POs) receive substantial attention and policy support, given their potential to contribute to pro-poor rural development. Here, we first synthesize decades of empirical research in the form of five stylized facts—common and largely unchallenged conclusions—about POs. Then, we explore these stylized facts using several secondary and primary data sets. We confirm some stylized facts, challenge others, and highlight which ones lack empirical evidence to derive policy implications and directions for future research.

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March 20, 2023

Cuba's Farming Cooperatives

Summary

Cuba’s thousands of agricultural cooperatives are responsible for about 56% of Cuba’s growing land, and employ an estimated 300,000 cooperative worker members. Some observers say the cooperatives more efficient than the state-owned parts of Cuba's agricultural production.

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February 16, 2023

Building, Here and Now, The World We Yearn For

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Summary

Cecosesola is established in Barquisimeto, capital of the state of Lara, located in the central-western region of Venezuela, as a cooperative integration organization that has been established since 1967. It is a meeting space where we make active life of more than 50 organizations, integrated into a network for the production of goods and services that brings together more than 20,000 associates from popular sectors. Through this network, we develop a wide variety of activities such as: agricultural production, small-scale agro-industrial production, funeral services, transportation, health services, financial services, mutual aid funds, distribution of foods and household items. We are made up of about 1,300 associated workers who manage daily activities through participation that is open to everyone, without hierarchical positions.

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September 26, 2022

Cooperatives as a Strategy in International Food Markets

Summary

How five Latin American producer cooperatives of high-value food products have overcome the hurdles to integration with the international market for their member farmers.

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September 12, 2022

The Genius of Ella Jo Baker

Summary

Ella Baker is well-regarded as a giant in the Civil Rights Movement, known for her unique participatory grassroots organizing style and also for her ability to galvanize young people to bring a militancy in the struggle to end segregation. But Baker is less known for her innovative organizing prowess before the 1960s – forming a network of self-help cooperatives to bring economic relief to black people during the Depression.Ella Baker is well-regarded as a giant in the Civil Rights Movement, known for her unique participatory grassroots organizing style and also for her ability to galvanize young people to bring a militancy in the struggle to end segregation. But Baker is less known for her innovative organizing prowess before the 1960s – forming a network of self-help cooperatives to bring economic relief to black people during the Depression.