Many farmers recognise the importance of farmer cooperatives to increase their supply chain power and position, (see Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006; Fleming and Spicer, 2014 for discussion of benefits). Nitschke and the formation of such producer co-operatives require a great deal O’Keefe (1997) state of trust to develop practice that avoids opportunism and reinforces mutual goals. However, results of this study suggest the processors use of (explicit or diffuse) power had an effect on own sense of trust, collegiality and togetherness with each farmers’ other. This lack of trust and collegiality among farmers may be rooted in the suspicion that their counterparts have been financially encouraged to function outside of the format by processors, as discussed previously: small mindedness of Northern Ireland farmers. Rather than helping somebody, “The they would cut their throat; that's the you did a deal with the dairy farmer problem…If they would be think ‘oh my, they're worth more in XXX today!' And they just wouldn't (P13). stand over it, that's the problem.” Farmers also noted the presence of strongly individualist sentiments amongst other farmers which worked against the formation of co-operatives which might be able to wrestle back some control within the supply chain. Respondents mentioned the failure of co-operatives in the past due to farmer intransigence and an inability to organise collectively: “…Farmers are particularly bad at working together…we are very much (P22) we work together well for our own individuals… don’t benefit.”
Many farmers recognise the importance of farmer cooperatives to increase their supply chain power and position, (see Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006; Fleming and Spicer, 2014 for discussion of benefits). Nitschke and O’Keefe (1997) state the formation of such producer co-operatives require a great deal of trust to develop practice that avoids opportunism and reinforces mutual goals. However, results of this study suggest the processors use of (explicit or diffuse) power had an effect on farmers’ own sense of trust, collegiality and togetherness with each other. This lack of trust and collegiality among farmers may be rooted in the suspicion that their counterparts have been financially encouraged to function outside of the format by processors, as discussed previously: “The small mindedness of Northern Ireland farmers. Rather than helping somebody, they would cut their throat; that's the problem…If you did a deal with the dairy farmer they would be think ‘oh my, they're worth more in XXX today!' And they just wouldn't stand over it, that's the problem.” (P13). Farmers also noted the presence of strongly individualist sentiments amongst other farmers which worked against the formation of co-operatives which might be able to wrestle back some control within the supply chain. Respondents mentioned the failure of co-operatives in the past due to farmer intransigence and an inability to organise collectively: “…Farmers are particularly bad at working together…we are very much individuals… we don’t work together well for our own benefit.” (P22)
Pragmatic_engagement_in_a_low_trust_supply_chain_Beef_farmers_Al_edits.docx