Cooperative Militarization

In 1951, six years after the United States defeated Japan and commenced the Occupation of Okinawa, the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyus (USCAR) issued an ordinance in support of agricultural cooperatives. Despite the appearance of altruism, the move marked the emergence of the U.S. anticolonial empire, a form that advocated racial and ethnic self-determination even as it expanded the U.S. military presence. This article shows how U.S. policymakers in Okinawa borrowed from modernization theory to implement models to foster ethnic identification through economic development. Their plans sought to render the United States an ally to Okinawa freedom despite the devastating effects militarism had on the local landscape. Specifically, military plans posited frameworks like the Okinawan economy, which strategically turned the military into a partner without whom Okinawa could not modernize. The article further focuses on agriculture, an arena where the contradictions of the U.S. Occupation was most acute. It argues that rehabilitating the local cooperative network drew Okinawans into the military project, not only to paper over the U.S. colonial presence, but also to further the reach of military discipline.

The Coordination of Multi-Stage Discounts in a Dual Channel Fresh Agricultural Pro-duce Supply Chain: Minimizing the Loss of Quantity and Quality

This paper explores the coordination of the agricultural cooperative to supermarket or E-commerce sup-ply chain, under the condition of quantity loss with a mixed decay function of exponential and logistical distribution. The nature of this process is analyzed, and the corresponding demand and supply functions with single- and multi-stage discount strategies are constructed respectively to create a working model. The optimal discount ratios for supermarkets and agricultural cooperatives in decentralized and central-ized decision-making modes coupled with single- and multi-stage discounts are calculated respectively. Finally, a universal optimal strategy is designed, which can be applied to various quantity decay scenarios and makes the discount strategy more generalized. The results show that discounts can coordinate supply chains more effectively; not only is fresh agricultural produce sold before it starts to rot, but the benefit conflicts arising from both supermarkets vs. cooperatives and traditional vs. E-commerce channels are equilibrated. Further, multi-stage discounts are more effective than single-stage ones, but optimal discount ratios rely on the initial quantity of fresh agricultural produce in the supply chain; its market share in the traditional distribution channel; the potential market size; retail price; the price sensitivity coefficient of the channel; the cross-elasticity coefficient of prices between different channels; and the properties of the quantity loss.

Corporate social responsibility and organizational commitment in agricultural cooperatives: evidence from Iran

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organizational commitment (OC) in agricultural cooperatives of Iran. The study’s research model is tested through a survey consulting 260 respondents. The method of data collection is using the standard questionnaire of corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on the Carol model and organizational commitment (OC) based on the Allen-Meyer model. Data validity was confirmed by Bartlett test and KMO coefficient and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha. The statistical population of this study was the agricultural cooperatives with managed by the Rural Cooperative Organization (RCO) of Isfahan Province in Iran. The results of this research showed that from the members’ viewpoint, the highest corporate social responsibility was in the legal dimension and the lowest was in the discretionary dimension as based on the Carol model. The research results show that the organizational commitment index of managers is nearly of 50%. The results of cluster analysis in the field of members ‘perception of cooperative social responsibility showed that the four variables such as: performance satisfaction, members’ participation in cooperative meetings, age and purpose of membership, predicts the members’ behavior in separating the cooperative into two groups with strong and weak the CSR. Also, the result of cluster analysis in board of director’s organizational commitment showed that the variables such as: level of education, management experience and belief in the non-interference of other institutions in cooperative management, predicts the board of directors organizational commitment behavior in separating into two strong and weak the OC. Recibido: 29 diciembre 2020Aceptado: 23 septiembre 2021

Youth’s participation in agriculture: A fallacy or achievable possibility? Evidence from rural South Africa

Background: The realisation of more youth involvement in the agricultural sector has proved to be elusive, so the question of the possibility of a youth-led agriculture needs further investigation.Aim: The aim of the study was to assess whether there is potential for the rural youth to participate in agriculture by employing the typology formulation approach.Setting: The study is premised on recent calls for strategies to reduce youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa by involving and enhancing the agricultural sector.Method: A survey in questionnaire form was conducted with 224 youths from two districts in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The Principal Components Analysis and K-Means Clustering were performed to determine the youth typologies and assess their potential.Results: Five typologies were identified. Most youths (59.3%) were found in Typology 1 (those that see no benefits in farming) and in Typology 2 (older, experienced and with access to land). Typology 5 (male youths in agricultural cooperatives) had the lowest proportion of youths (5.7%). Participants in typologies 2, 3 and 5 were deemed to have high to moderate potential for successful engagement in farming. The highest potential was found in the typology with the least percentage of youths.Conclusions: The typologies showed that youths have varying perceptions and aspirations regarding agriculture. While some show an interest and have the potential to participate in farming, others do not. Therefore, the blanket notion of the youth’s lack of interest in agriculture should be qualified as it does not always hold. The heterogeneity in characteristics among the youths in these typologies, including their potential to participate in agriculture, expresses the differences in the kinds of support needed to increase their participation.

A Territorial-Driven Approach to Capture the Transformative Momentum of the Social Economy Especially from the Agricultural Cooperatives

In the last few lustrums, the literature has searched for more precise methods to assess the socio-economic importance of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). On that basis, this article offers a new way of assessing the SSE impact, enhancing the understanding of the SSE potential for socio-economic transformation. An evolutionary micro–meso–macro and territorial theoretical framework is developed, utilizing, along with the assistance of a qualitative methodology, studies on the transformation promoted by the SSE on the sugar cane cluster of Veracruz (Mexico). The main results of the article are that the SSE boost beneficiaries, while the protagonists of the transformation cannot be defined a priori, but are rather conformed by transformation vectors promoted by the SSE: their values shared by a wide spectrum of actors, the SSE socio-economic and organizational specificities, and their rooting in the productive system. The fundamental conclusion of the article is the need for a “territorial-driven approach” of the SSE’s impact, compared to the dominant “stakeholder-driven approach”. The main limitations (and suggestions for future studies) are the empirical investigation of a single case, and the need to develop a qualitative and quantitative system of indicators of the transformative drive of SSE.

Evaluating the digitalization potential of agro-industrial sector of Russia

Best practices of farmers using modern digital technologies demonstrate high results achieved both in crop production and in animal husbandry. Efficiency is expressed in increasing the yield, labor productivity, reducing costs, and what is more, in preserving soil fertility and protecting the environment. However, the need to digitize managerial and analytical processes based on Big Data, Data Science implementation and the ability to interpret the obtained analytical material and make qualified decisions based on a scientific approach are often missed the memo. In light of this, the purpose of the study was to analyze the readiness of various company unit categories employed in the agro-industrial complex of Russia to use big data and process it. Based on the results obtained, a matrix for determining the potential for the transition of companies to the use and analytics of Big Data was built. According to the results of which, it can be argued that, on average, about 45% of the analyzed companies have a high potential for the transition to digital development, and an average level of potential is 24%. In the context of the categories of farms, the results for the surveyed agricultural cooperatives, traders and exporters are higher than the average indicators.