Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in helping farmers pool their production to negotiate better prices for their products and access larger markets. They can also organise joint buying of materials for production (like seeds and fertilisers) or arrange joint logistics. There are more than 22 000 agricultural cooperatives in Europe representing about 7 million farmers.

If you are involved in an agricultural cooperative, you will know that they contribute to local economic growth and help retain employment and population in rural areas.

Through its common agricultural policy (CAP), the EU provides financial support for the creation of agricultural cooperatives and the transformation of agricultural businesses into cooperatives. A Slovenian agricultural and forestry cooperative, for instance, used CAP funds to associate more than 1 700 farmers into an efficient vegetable and fruit supply chain. Depending on the sector, farmers' cooperatives can also receive EU funds for building or modernising facilities and equipment, planning and concentrating production, promotion and marketing, or joint storage, for instance. Vegetable and fruit cooperatives can in addition receive EU support for creating or maintaining biodiversity-friendly habitats or for improving energy efficiency.

To make it easier for cooperatives to work together across borders, the EU has established the European Cooperative Society (SCE). This type of trans-national cooperative is active in more than one EU country and as a result, achieves economies of scale and facilitates access to a larger market.