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Cooperatives and collective action have long been a solution for primary producers to bargain for equitable input prices in market output products. But there are some issues that need to be dealt with in terms of working with cooperatives and making them more sustainable. They are, in fact, an extremely effective mechanism to achieve economic efficiency. Cooperatives gather multitudes of individuals, achieving economies of scale and efficiencies in coordination, finding buyers, sellers, sharing risk, and reducing transaction costs. Simultaneously, cooperatives consist of individual firms maintaining competition and efficiencies gained through competition. Most importantly, collective economies of scale endow the collective with market power to bargain for sustainable margins.
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