Spatial effects on the productive structure of Spanish agri-food cooperatives

Abstract

This article analyses the role of spatial effects on the productive growth of Spanish agri-food cooperatives. The study was based on a sample data from 172 Spanish cooperatives for the period 2010–2012. We applied the Malmquist productivity index method to compute the productivity growth and its components. We then developed a multi-equational productivity growth model with spatial effects. Our results show that the productivity growth in agri-food cooperatives depends on the geographical location of the company and its interaction with its neighbours. This analysis supports the importance of taking into account the spatial dimension when regional agri-food policies are designed, particularly, for cooperatives characterized by the inter-cooperation principle.

Financial structure and cooperative efficiency: A pecking‐order evidence from sugarcane farmers in Eswatini

“…Huang et al (2013) also document evidence of a negative effect of financial leverage among a sample of agricultural marketing cooperatives in the Zhejiang Province in China. Similar to Hailu et al (2007) and Davidova and Lafruffe (2007), Martínez-Victoria et al (2016) found a negative effect of indebtedness on total factor productivity among 172 Spanish cooperatives from 2010 to 2012. Maietta and Sena (2010) found financial constraints to have a positive effect on technical efficiency of 63 Italian wine producer cooperatives.…”

“…(2007) and Davidova and Lafruffe (2007), Martínez‐Victoria et al. (2016) found a negative effect of indebtedness on total factor productivity among 172 Spanish cooperatives from 2010 to 2012. Maietta and Sena (2010) found financial constraints to have a positive effect on technical efficiency of 63 Italian wine producer cooperatives.…”

“…A third strand of the farm efficiency literature, which is closely related to this paper is the effect of financial structure or credit access on technical efficiency (Carter, 1989;Feder et al, 1990;Whittaker & Morehart, 1991;Nasr, Barry, & Ellinger, 1998;Lambert & Bayda, 2005;Ayaz & Hussain, 2011;Davidova & Lafruffe, 2007;Hailu, Jeffrey, & Goddard, 2007;Huang et al, 2013;Maietta & Sena, 2010;Martínez-Victoria et al, 2016;Mugera & Nyambane, 2014;Russell et al, 2017;Zhengfei & Lansink, 2006). This section reviews the empirical studies in the third strand where the contribution of this paper can be situated.…”

“…We document the first empirical evidence on the role of grants as a financing source on technical efficiency of agricultural cooperatives. This represents an extension on the literature on finance and efficiency (Huang, Fu, Liang, Song, & Xu, 2013;Maietta & Sena, 2010;Martínez-Victoria, Sánchez-Val, & Arcas-Lario, 2016;Russell, Briggeman, & Featherstone, 2017). The results of the vast literature on grants and efficiency relationship (Bojnec & Ferto, 2013;Cillero, Thorne, Wallace, Breen, & Hennessy, 2018;Garrone, Emmers, Lee, Olper, & Swinnen, 2019;Minviel & Latruffe, 2017;Minviel & Sipiläinen, 2018), which have been limited to individual smallholder farmers, remain inconclusive (Minviel & Latruffe, 2017).…”

“…For instance,Fischer and Qaim (2012) report an average of 23% and 27% increase in output price and (annual) income respectively for banana group members in Kenya.2 The other part of the literature (seeBoyd, Boland, Dhuyvetter, & Barton, 2007;Grashuis, 2018Grashuis, , 2019Pokharel, Regmi, Featherstone, & Archer, 2019), which is not the focus of the paper have examined the effect of financing choice on financial performance of agricultural cooperatives.3Carter (1989);Feder et al (1990);Whittaker and Morehart (1991);Lambert and Bayda (2005); Hailu, Jeffrey, and Goddard (2007);Zhengfei and Lansink (2006);Davidova and Lafruffe (2007);Maietta and Sena (2010);Mugera and Nyambane (2014);Martínez-Victoria, Sánchez-Val, and Arcas-Lario (2016);Russell, Briggeman, and Featherstone (2017).4 The limited evidence on the relationship between grants and efficiency is limited to individual farmers(Minviel & Latruffe, 2017;Latruffe, Bravo-Ureta, Carpentier, Desjeux, & Moreira, 2017;Minviel & Sipiläinen, 2018;Cillero, Thorne, Wallace, Breen, & Hennessy, 2018).…”