Although frequently observed in natural habitats across Israel, the true nature of the "strange growths" (galls) that appear on various plants is not always clear. Insect-induced plant galls are actually the most intimate way in which animals feed on plants. This book reveals to naturalists and scientists one of the most impressive and conspicuous groups among gall-forming insects: aphids that form galls on wild pistachio (Pistacia). The gall serves as an incubator for the aphids, providing them with a rich food supply and shelter from natural enemies and abiotic factors. Several aphid generations develop in galls from spring to fall. During these months, the gall functions as a dynamic and complex multitrophic ecological (mini) system, including pathogens, competitors, parasites, and predators. The first part of the book describes the multi-disciplinary information on the biology and ecology of the aphids and gall system from molecular, anatomical, physiological, biochemical, behavioral, biogeographic, and evolutionary points of view. The second part of the book provides a information and photographic guide to all the aphid-induced galls on wild pistachios in Israel.

This periodical has been permanently discontinued. This is the last volume. The articles in this volume: Methodologies to Measure the Economic Impact of Cooperatives: A Critical Review F. Nicoleta Uzea Willingness to Invest in Agricultural Cooperatives: Evidence from Greece Achilleas Kontogeorgos, Fotios Chatzitheodoridis, and George Theodossiou Adaptation of South African Wine Cooperatives to Challenging Business Environments Joachim Ewert, Jon H. Hanf, and Erik Schweickert Role of Farmers’ Cooperative Societies in Rural Development in Nigeria Franklin E. Nlerum and Patience I. Ogu Changes in a Kibbutz Plant’s Life Cycle Induced by Cultural Change Yaffa Moskovich and Yuval Achouch Gendered Division of Labor in a Post-Privatization Moshav: A Case Study from Southern Israel Avi Shnider Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The articles in this volume: Agricultural cooperatives in Israel - Gadi Rosenthal and Hadas Eiges Spanish second-tier cooperative societies: An analysis of e-corporate social responsibility - Adoración Mozas-Moral, Raquel Puentes-Poyatos , and Enrique Bernal JuradoRural household saving determinants in Kazakhstan - Sholpan Gaisina Impact of a marketing cooperative on cocoa producers and intermediaries : The case of the Acopagro cooperative in Peru - Angie Higuchi Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The articles in this volume: From agrarian to global values: How 20th century U.S. agricultural cooperatives came to terms with agricultural industrialization Julie A. Hogeland Cooperatives and poverty reduction: A literature review Nana Afranaa Kwapong and Markus Hanisch Examining economies of scale for farmer cooperatives in China’s Shanxi Province Jing Liu and DeeVon Bailey Member willingness to invest in agricultural cooperatives in Shaanxi Province, China Lijia Wang and Xuexi Huo Mobilization of personal savings among microfinance participating households: A survey in West Bengal, India Amit Kundu Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The articles in this volume: Agricultural Cooperatives in Post-War Bosnia and Herzegovina: Internal and External Factors Affecting Cooperative Financial Performance Cynthia Barmore Strategies for Agricultural Cooperation in Contemporary China Qiao Li, Jianhua Wang, and Patrick H. Mooney Generic Business Strategies in Greece: Private Food Firms versus Agricultural Cooperatives Helen E. Salavou and Panagiota Sergaki Rural Producer Organizations and Poverty Reduction in Uganda: Are There Gender Disparities in the Distribution of Membership Benefits? Edidah Ampaire, Charles Machethe, and Eliud Birachi From Collectivism to Capitalism: Cultural Change in a Kibbutz Factory in Israel Yaffa Moskovich and Yuval Achouch Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

This special issue of Journal of Rural Cooperation has its origin in an eRNAC (electronic Research Network of Agricultural Cooperatives) conference held in Helsinki, Finland, June 14-16, 2012. The general theme of the conference was Cooperative Values in Internationalized Operations. The operations in the agro-food industry are becoming so large that operational areas grow larger than national borders. Many agro-food firms are global. Agricultural cooperatives are obliged to follow the development. However, cooperatives’ internationalization turns out to be problematic. How to deal with members and non-members in different countries? Who is entitled to the residual? Are old principles such as equal treatment and democratic decision-making still applicable? In the process of internationalization the relations between various actors in the cooperative organizations come into focus. In addition to more heterogeneous membership, relations between members and managers and between members and internal as well as external investors financial issues become more complex. Not all those conflicting interests can be managed through economic arguments. Also social factors play a role. Daniela Maria Pozzobon, Decio Zylbersztajn, and Jos Bijman analyze decision-making relations between members and managers. Their starting point is that when democratic costs increase, agency costs of monitoring hired management decrease. The cooperative members’ active participation reduces the costs for monitoring the management. This argument also functions other way around. The research question is: How is a cooperative’s ability to control both democratic and agency costs related to the level of member participation? One finding is that cooperatives are more inclined to reducing the opportunity agency costs (member participation) rather than opportunity democratic costs (e.g. incentive payments to the managers). The horizon problem’s influence on cooperative financing is analyzed by Murray Fulton and Konstantinos Giannakas. The horizon problem has a direct connection to the open membership policy. Upon the establishment of a cooperative the first generation of members may not have an incentive to support the next generation through an open membership policy. The first generation may want the second generation to invest more than they have done themselves. Even though there would be an incentive to restrict new members, the vaguely defined property rights may, however, make an open membership policy plausible. The horizon problem also plays a role in Jeffrey Royer’s analysis of why cooperatives are seldom integrated in down-stream value-added markets. Royer presents a wide range of reasons why access to capital, characteristics in cooperative decision-making and cooperative managers’ behavior prevent cooperatives from expanding their activities to value-added markets. Cooperatives’ limited access to equity capital together with memberships’ riskaversion seem to act as barriers to expansion in down-stream activities, which usually are more capital intensive than up-stream operations. Royer suggests that “member investment in food and agribusiness stocks may provide an effective way to hedge against business risk while capturing some of the benefits of retained ownership without an extension of ownership interest.” Gregory McKee and Ryan Larsen focus on cooperative members’ and managers’ decision-making concerning financing issues. If retained patronage refunds can be regarded as a primary source of capital, the question arises how much to pay to members and how much to reserve for future investments in the cooperative. This issue may create conflicts between members and the management. The authors use member-controlled and manager-controlled variables to analyze the effect on risk, debt and investment behavior. They find that relatively small cooperatives have a larger potential to improve their risk management and optimal borrowing. Fabiana Cherubim Bortoleto and Davi Rogério de Moura Costa examine the meaning of loyalty and social responsibility to agricultural cooperative members. The starting point is the notion that members’ loyalty towards their cooperatives is crucial for cooperative success, and social responsibility is an important factor in increasing the cooperatives’ value from both members’ and external parties’ point of view. The data originates from a sample of Brazilian cooperatives. Results indicate that better capacity to provide services increases members’ loyalty. However, no significant relationship between social responsibility and loyalty is found. Daniel May investigates whether also non-economic drivers influence farmers’ incentives to cooperate. He compares farmers’ incentives to cooperate prior to a major policy reform (stable business environment) and their incentives after it (turbulent business environment). Day finds that the noneconomic drivers influencing willingness to collaborate are different in a stable business environment than in a turbulent one. In a pre-reform environment clarifying joint business goals and objectives influenced to joining together, as well as cooperative being a means to be in a closer contact with suppliers and buyers. In post-reform conditions such factors as cooperation as a means of maintaining or supporting farming life style become important. Tursinbek Sultan and Axel Wolz compare the development of agricultural cooperatives in China and Vietnam after the decollectivization. Compared to the Western world, the development of cooperatives has been different in socialist and former Soviet Union countries. The authors provide a description about newly established cooperatives as well as converted state farms in the environment of farmers’ reluctance and local authorities’ control. Despite of cooperatives’ relatively small role their importance in securing both up- and downstream markets is expected to increase. Writers in this issue: Jerker Nilsson, Petri Ollila, Daniela Maria Pozzobon, Decio Zylbersztajn, Jos Bijman, Murray Fulton, Onstantinos Giannakas, Jeffrey Royer, Gregory McKee, Ryan Larsen, Fabiana Cherubim Bortoleto, Davi Rogério de Moura Costa, Daniel E. May, Tursinbek Sultan and Axel Wolz. Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The Journal of Rural Cooperation (JRC) is an interdisciplinary journal focusing on cooperatives and related rural organizations in developed and less developed countries. Topics of particular interest are cooperatives facing trends of globalization and privatization, the web of cooperative-community relationships, and cooperatives as part of such broader systems as mainstream economics, economies in transition, the social economy or related alternative paradigms. Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The Journal of Rural Cooperation (JRC) is an interdisciplinary journal focusing on cooperatives and related rural organizations in developed and less developed countries. Topics of particular interest are cooperatives facing trends of globalization and privatization, the web of cooperative-community relationships, and cooperatives as part of such broader systems as mainstream economics, economies in transition, the social economy or related alternative paradigms. Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

For contents press on Sample pages which is located on the right of the cover photo. The Journal of Rural Cooperation (JRC) is an interdisciplinary journal focusing on cooperatives and related rural organizations in developed and less developed countries. Topics of particular interest are cooperatives facing trends of globalization and privatization, the web of cooperative-community relationships, and cooperatives as part of such broader systems as mainstream economics, economies in transition, the social economy or related alternative paradigms. Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The transition process in central and eastern Europe (CEE) had a profound effect on how individuals interact. Economic and social institutions have changed, requiring an adaptation process by individuals in the move toward a market economy. How each individual accesses, manipulates and uses their networks will determine the use of their social capital. Within CEE, there is a presumption of low levels of social capital. This paper questions the rationale of applying the contested 'western' concept of social capital to CEE countries. It argues that although the concept was developed to understand processes within established democratic systems, it nevertheless is instrumental for analysing how trust is formed, and for understanding cooperation amongst individuals. As such, this framework reconciles literature from sociological and economic disciplines and offers a comprehensive framework for the analysis of social capital on a micro level. This involves positing social capital within a game theoretic framework, while including social learning or heuristics. This is particularly important due to the path dependent social structures and institutions, given political changes in these countries in the last century. Social capital is seen as a dynamic entity, a form of institutional change, which leads to innovation in the existing governance structures. For contents press on Sample pages which is located on the right of the cover photo. Journal of Rural Cooperation Home Page

The relationship between Jewish agriculture in the USSR, Jewish sponsors in the USA, and the Bolsheviks constitutes a fascinating segment in the history of interwar Jewish cooperation. This book explores the ideological motives of communal farming and everyday life in Jewish communities, mostly in Soviet Russia. It addresses this ideological tradition and its practice from the 19th century and until the establishment of the State of Israel, demonstrating the ways in which Jews accustomed to the Eastern European Shtetlekh soon became efficient farmers. The second part of the book gives and account of communal farming in the Jewish world in the modern era, providing a fresh outlook on the negative approach toward Jewish agriculture, traditionally expressed in history books.