Principles of Co-operation in Agriculture. 38o 



FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF CO-OPERATION 

 IN AGRICULTURE. 



liy JoHS. Eetief, llegistrar of Co-operative Agricultural Societies. 



The success of farming, like that of all other producing' businesses, 

 depends not only upon the application of proper methods of produc- 

 tion, but also upon the exercise of business ?cunien in marketing the 

 products of the business. 



During recent years much has l^een done to introduce improved 

 methods of production, but if our farmers are to receive a reasonable 

 return for their investment of capital v.nd labour, they must resort 

 not only to scientific methods of production and labour but must also 

 find the shortest and least expensive route l^etween the producer and 

 the consumer. In other words, farmers liiust co-operate in placiiig 

 their business on a proper organized basis. 



Organization is generally admitted to be essential for success in 

 practically every phase of industrial activity. It is the fundamental 

 principle accepted by all business men in their operations. 



In South Africa farmers are beginning to realize that they cannot 

 proceed as heretofore, and that organization has become necessary for 

 them also. Finding that individual efforts would be of little avail 

 against the forces opposed to them, our farmers are beginning to see 

 that, as farmers, their interests are identical, and that their only hope 

 of success lies in co-operative effort, each helping the other, and all 

 working together. 



There is, however, a great deal of confusion in the use of the 

 term "co-operation," asapplied to agricultural efforts. 



The true co-operatiAe association, whether with limited liability 

 registered under our Companies Acts, or with unlimited liablity regis- 

 tered under our Co-operatiA^e Acts, is an association of farmers who 

 unite in an effort to handle their common interests through an agency 

 controlled by themselves on the principle of an industrial democracy, 

 and exclusively for their own benefit. 



The object of agricultural co-operation is to ensure that the farmer 

 receives not only the profits due to him as a labourer, but also the 

 profits which he may have earned as a business man by grading, 

 developing, and marketing the products first raised by hiin as a 

 labourer. The idea is to secure these extra profits for the farmers 

 as a class, as well as to provide for their equitable distribution among 

 individual farmers by dividing the profits on the basis of patronage 

 instead of on the basis of capital. 



Agricultural Co-operation simply means that the farmer takes 

 control of all the branches of his own busines,s — he must not only 

 produce but must also, as far as possible, deliver his products to the 

 consumer — i.e. he must get into closer contact with the consumer^ 



We have in the Union two forms of Co-operative Associations — 

 those with limited liability and those in which the liabilty of members 

 is unlimited. 



