Member deliveries in collective marketing relationships: evidence from coffee cooperatives in Costa Rica

This article investigates member deliveries in agricultural marketing cooperatives. Since cooperatives depend on members' contributions to achieve efficiency in processing and marketing, side-selling by members poses a threat to the economic viability of cooperatives in the long run. We develop a model for the farmers' marketing decision that relates farm size to the share of produce delivered to the cooperative. Based on survey data from cooperatively organised coffee farmers in Costa Rica, we find that the share delivered to cooperatives decreases with farm size, albeit at a decreasing rate. The empirical results thus confirm the theoretical model prediction of a u-shaped relationship between farm size and member deliveries.