Page 128 - Biorefinery 2030 Future Prospects for the Bioeconomy (2015)

96 4 Prospects for the Bazancourt-Pomacle Biorefinery Between Now and 2030

challenges of the twenty-first century, and face huge market entry barriers. If we
compare these prospects with previous periods (1970–2000), which with the benefit
of hindsight appear much more favourable, cooperative values and the maxim “let’s
do things by ourselves” become even more vital. Perhaps, however, “by ourselves”
needs to be looked at again.

5.2 The Basis of the Cooperative Model

Will such a context threaten the basics of the cooperative model, such as “one man
one vote,” the agreement to invest 1 year’s harvest, the commitment to deliver all or
part of the harvest to the cooperative and mutualisation as a way to make economies
of scale and to smooth over fluctuating market conditions?
We can identify a number of challenges:

– Will the cost/benefit ratio lose its relevance, for example due to the high
volatility of agricultural raw materials prices? If prices increase too much
(a threefold increase in the price of a tonne of wheat), the commitment to deliver
will become questionable.
– Will the development of cooperatives by increasing their size and internalising
activities result in falling respect for their traditional values? Will farmers feel
less comfortable as “capitalists” or as owners of an industrial holding group?
– Will the increasing international dimension of cooperatives lead to
corresponding damage to their links with their original territory and with the
concerns and interests of their farmers?
– Will the growing dependence on financial markets lead to a feeling of dispos-
session, of loss of control, or even of risk by cooperative members?

If necessary, cooperative board members and presidents could find themselves
out of line with their management: extremely well educated, talented staff, often
recruited from large groups, but who were not brought up “on the land.”
In the face of attempts to facilitate the growth in size of cooperatives by dividing
them into divisions for each type of activity, and particularly by creating holding
companies covering industrial operations, the question remains of the survival of
links between cooperatives and their members.
As discussed above in Sect. 3, the farmers are more concerned with maintaining
the income of their farm, reducing their debt, sustainable development, the possi-
bility of passing the farm on to their children, than with the global success of the
cooperative.
Different forums (Quebec, International Summit of Cooperatives, 11 2012) and
research work have recently investigated these questions, and certain future

11
Deroy and Thenot (2012).