5. Conclusion
Our comparative case study indicated that knowledge and innovation was spread, in the formal cooperative structures, through predominantly vertical linkages where highly connected actors, generally leaders, acted as intermediaries between high-level partners (governments and markets) and the cooperative members. These key actors were reported as receiving significant power from their role, potentially resulting in a wide variation of knowledge and adoption of innovative practices across cooperative members, due to their ability to control the flow of knowledge. Our results also suggested that individual-level social networks not only dif-fered greatly between members, but also affected their potential to access and share knowledge concerning innovation. This finding challenges the notion that cooperatives are inherently positive vehicles for innovation dissemination (Clark, 2002; Gouet & Van Paassen, 2012; Yang, Klerkx, & Leeuwis, 2014), and instead suggests the need to better recognize that their function depends heavily on the existing social capital of cooperative members. Future research into the role of individual social capital (including social networks) in the function and performance of agricultural cooperatives could help to better understand the internal politics of cooperatives and how different forms of power are obtained and used to enhance the opportunity of different members. Our findings support the need for members to have both structured and unstructured opportunities to connect with internal (other members) and external agents, building the social capital necessary to access wider networks of information (Sabatini, 2009). This type of thinking may provide an opportunity for cooperatives to better intersect withagriculturalinnovationplatforms seeking to facilitate forums for interactions that can build trust, collaboration, and networks between multiple stakeholders in the food system (Foran et al., 2014). Through these avenues, new opportunities may be identified to re-center cooperative-related research on member dynamics and interactions and how the values of “autonomy, voluntarism, and democracy” in cooperation can be best fostered. Important considerations here include the potential roles that agricultural cooperatives might play in empowering disadvantaged groups in rural landscapes, such as ethnic minorities, youth and women; and confronting the basis for the often-negative local perceptions surrounding cooperatives and their colonial legacies in order to collectively identify new arrangements and directions.
