Inter-organizational relationships in the US agri-food system: the role of agricultural cooperatives.

This chapter describes and analyses the variety of organizational configurations adopted by US agricultural producers. In particular, it describes the organizational architecture of farmer-led, cooperative networks in the US food system using the netchain framework. Given the increased capital intensity and competitiveness in agri-food systems, cooperatives are forming alliances and joint ventures with other cooperatives, private firms and outside investors. A recent survey finds that 204 cooperatives had additional sales of US$14 billion in 2007 from other, non-cooperative business ventures. By means of several types of inter-organizational relationships, cooperatives have formed complex farmer-led supply chains and networks ('netchains').