The Environmental Cooperative: Self-Governance in Sustainable Rural Development

This article explores the advantages and risks of a new form of self-regulation in the Netherlands. The focal point is the environmental cooperative: a regional organization in which farmers collaborate to integrate environmental values into their production process. The body of this article begins with a discussion of the background of these innovative collectives. It then examines a few concrete examples in greater detail. The question guiding the discussion is if and how the environmental cooperative can contribute to such a broad national planning goal as a more sustainable development of the rural area.