AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES AND FARM SUSTAINABILITY – A LITERATURE REVIEW
综述农业合作社对农场可持续性的影响，涵盖经济、环境和社会三个维度，发现合作社在促进经济可持续性和环保实践方面作用显著，但社会可持续性研究较少。
Abstract We present a literature review of the role played by agricultural cooperatives in influencing farm sustainability. We first focus on the theoretical literature to highlight the various economic behaviours of cooperatives. Then we investigate all three dimensions of sustainability in developing and developed countries. We aim at linking the empirical findings to the theoretical understanding of cooperatives, in particular members’ heterogeneity. This paper shows that cooperatives play a non‐negligible role in farm economic sustainability and in the adoption of environmentally friendly practices, suggesting that both public policies and private initiatives in cooperatives may be complementary. As regards social sustainability, there are only a few studies existing on the role of agricultural cooperatives. The trade‐off between economic and environmental sustainability in cooperatives would need to be further investigated.