The Role of Agricultural Cooperatives Interaction with Public Research on Technological Change in Brazil

Abstract

"Agricultural cooperatives have played an important role on technological change in Brazilian agribusiness, primarily, on cases in witch these farmer- owned organizations contract with public research and development institutes. The agricultural cooperative sector has operated different ways of coordination with the science and technology sector, some of this are innovate forms of work organization. The theoretical framework of this article relies on social sciences applied to innovation management in the cooperative sector with focus on modes of science and technology coordination. The article identifies, defines the scope, describes and analyses comparatively some cases of interaction between the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation - Embrapa and farm cooperatives. Finally, the paper suggests that efforts to improve and expand strategic alliances between public research and agricultural cooperatives may have important effects on agri-food chains and networks, including demand prospecting, knowledge construction and innovation in organization, processes and products."