Food & Agriculture
4 case studies
Agricultural cooperatives and fair trade systems demonstrate how farmer ownership and collective bargaining can decouple producers from commodity price volatility while keeping value in rural communities.
Theory Connection: Food systems show PSC applied to supply chains. Cooperative ownership creates decoupling from trader extraction, collective processing and marketing creates alignment, and reinvestment in member capacity creates multi-generational regeneration of farming communities.
Ethiopian Coffee Cooperatives
Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, and its cooperative movement ensures farmers capture more value from this heritage. 4M+ smallholder farmers belong to cooperatives that aggregate production, negotiate with buyers, and return premiums to members. The Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union alone represents 400,000 farmers. Fair trade and direct trade channels let farmers earn 2-3x conventional prices. The model proves that collective organization can shift power from commodity traders to producers.
- 4M+ smallholder farmers
- 400,000 in Oromia Union alone
- 2-3x prices vs conventional
Fedecocagua
Fedecocagua (Federación de Cooperativas Agrícolas de Productores de Café de Guatemala) represents 20,000+ indigenous Maya smallholder farmers in Guatemala's highlands. Since 1969, it has helped farmers access fair trade and organic markets, earning 2-3x conventional prices. The federation handles export, quality control, and certification—services individual farmers couldn't access alone. Revenue returns to communities for schools, health clinics, and agricultural training. It's PSC applied to global commodity markets.
- 20,000+ Maya smallholder farmers
- 55 years of operation
- Fair trade + organic certification
JA Group (Japan Agricultural Cooperatives)
JA Group is Japan's agricultural cooperative network—9.4M farmer members across 600+ local cooperatives. Beyond farming, JA operates Japan's largest cooperative bank (¥100T+ assets), insurance, supermarkets, and rural infrastructure. The system was designed to ensure farmers weren't exploited by middlemen. While criticized for bureaucracy, JA demonstrates how cooperative principles can scale to national infrastructure.
- 9.4M farmer members
- 600+ local cooperatives
- ¥100T+ in banking assets
Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement)
Saemaul Undong ('New Village Movement') was a government-led initiative that transformed rural South Korea from 1970-1979. The government provided cement and steel; villages provided labor and governance. 35,000 villages participated, building roads, bridges, and housing. Income doubled in a decade. The model was praised for rapid development but criticized for top-down control and unsustainability after government withdrawal. It shows PSC can be government-initiated but raises questions about whether externally-sparked movements truly regenerate.
- 35,000 villages transformed
- Government provided materials
- Villages provided labor and governance