Characteristics and Direction of Fruit and Vegetable Joint Sales Business in Korea - Focused on the Cases of Cooperative Joint Business Corporations in Jinju, Namwon, and Muju -

Abstract

This study aims to examine the development process and characteristics of the joint agricultural product sales business carried out by cooperative joint business corporations founded through a joint investment of regional agricultural cooperatives, which entrusted them with the authority to execute sales. To this end, this study selected the cases of the Jinju Cooperative Joint Business Corporation, which had been converted from a joint business group; the Namwon Cooperative Joint Business Corporation, which had led joint sales in producing areas of multiple crops that cover several administrative districts; and the Muju Banditbul Cooperative Business Corporation, which had performed joint sales business in a major apple producing area. The analysis of these three cases was based on the internal data of each corporation with regard to their sales. The findings are as follows. Co-selected products have merits in terms of price compared to individually selected products. Agricultural products processing centers in producing areas are operated beyond the boundaries among the regional agricultural cooperatives for the efficient operation of the business. Co-selection and shipment associations are incorporated into several federations that established themselves on the same footing as operating partners. In addition to farms participating in co-selection associations, farms performing individual selection are also involved in the business, enabling the corporation to play the main role in creating a wide-area production center. Cooperative joint business corporations have shown their potential to lead local agriculture, continuously evolving to maintain stable supply of agricultural products and the strengthening of the bargaining power of participating farms in the market by scaling up the production of strawberries and adjusting the cropping season, as well as by promoting the introduction of new varieties of products and fostering them as new income crops for local communities.