Successful Producer Owned Marketing Organisations in a Transition Country: Two Case Studies from Hungarian Agribusiness

Starting point of our analysis is that independent privately owned farm organisations in transition countries like Hungary can not countervail the market power of their business partners; therefore closer coordination (integration) of agricultural producers seems an appropriate solution. Apart from some theoretical considerations on co-operative rationale (based on New Institutional Economics), the main aim of the paper is presenting 2 case studies on producer owned marketing organisations from Hungarian agribusiness, one from the fruit and vegetable sector and the other one from the dairy chain. Conclusions from case studies are the followings. Such producers’ organisations, like the Mórakert Co-operative and Alföldi Milk Selling and Supplying Ltd. can be a solution for farmers to cope with their problems arising from incomplete pricing mechanisms and to reduce transaction costs, at least at the regional level. They also are good examples for the vertical integration based on the horizontal coordination of farmers as initiators. Despite recent liquidity problems, they also proves that by cooperation there is an opportunity to significantly improve their countervailing power and to establish ownership for farmers in the upper part of the food chain if they can secure strict quality requirements, solid financing, loyalty and trust in their organisations.