Achilleas Kontogeorgos

An Assessment Of New Farmers’ Perceptions About Agricultural Cooperatives

The Common Agricultural Policy pays particular attention to the decline of young farmers in the European Union. For this reason, plenty of different policy measures and motives for new entrants in agriculture there have been established. The main objectives of this paper are to investigate the characteristics of new farmers according to their participation in Agricultural Cooperatives and to identify what makes new farmers participate (or not) in Agricultural Cooperatives. Both research questions will advance the knowledge of policy makers and practitioners on new farmers’ expectations and perceptions and through them, to come to distinctive conclusions about the measures and the actions needed to promote agricultural cooperatives as a viable solution for new entrants in the agricultural sector. For this reason, a survey was conducted in different regions of Greece (northern, central and southern) during an educational course designed for new farmers. More specifically, a structured questionnaire was developed and distributed among 250 new farmers participating in the measure 112 ‘Setting up of young farmers’ (Common Agricultural Policy, Pillar II). The results of the survey indicate low trust in the cooperative organization, leading to low rates of active participation and commitment to agricultural cooperatives.