The impact of cooperatives on Brazilian agricultural production: a spatial econometric analysis

Abstract Cooperatives are important links between producers and the market, responding directly or indirectly for a relevant portion of the agricultural Gross Domestic Product. There is a lack of studies that measure how much cooperatives influence production in the rural environment, considering Brazilian regional differences. Thus, the objective is to identify the influence of cooperatives in the agricultural production of Brazilian regions. Therefore, a production function considering cooperatives as one of its inputs was constructed, considering a spatial correction at the municipal level for Brazilian regions. The results show that there is spatial dependence on the data used, justifying the methodological approach used in this work. There was a positive effect of cooperatives on the Gross Value of Agricultural Production in the municipalities of the Southeast, Center-West and South, while the restrictive influence of the cooperative association in the North and Northeast was noted. Therefore, the expansion of cooperatives throughout the regions was not a homogeneous process, and there is still a long way to go in order to have higher levels of cooperation in the Brazilian countryside.