Business School, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
School of Finance and Economics, Zhejiang Dongfang Polytechnics, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
PLoS One. 2021 Apr 28;16(4):e0250018. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250018. eCollection 2021.
Agro-food supply chain integration (ASCI) plays a growingly important role in the stable and sustainable development of agriculture. However, it is challenging for core firms to integrate the small-scale and scatted farmers due to complex transaction processes and volatile relationships in China. Agricultural co-operatives are organizations that unite farmers' power and help them achieve economic benefits. Our research focuses on ASCI from the perspective of co-operatives. A comprehensive cooperative framework, including trinity co-operatives and trinity federations, is conducted to figure out the position and process of agricultural co-operatives in ASCI, while QCA provides detailed collaborative patterns for agricultural co-operatives to adopt. Results show that agricultural co-operatives can achieve high economic and social/environmental performance when participating in ASCI. This study further completes the ASCI literature and offers many managerial and academic implications to co-operatives' members and policy-makers.
农业食品供应链整合（ASCI）在农业的稳定和可持续发展中发挥着越来越重要的作用。然而，由于中国交易过程复杂且关系不稳定，核心企业很难整合小规模和分散的农户。农业合作社是联合农民力量并帮助他们实现经济效益的组织。我们的研究从合作社的角度关注 ASCI。采用了一个包括三位一体合作社和三位一体联合会的综合合作框架，以确定农业合作社在 ASCI 中的地位和作用，而 QCA 则为农业合作社采用提供了详细的合作模式。结果表明，农业合作社在参与 ASCI 时可以实现较高的经济和社会/环境绩效。本研究进一步完善了 ASCI 文献，为合作社成员和政策制定者提供了许多管理和学术启示。
