Risk Attitudes within Farmer Cooperative Organizations: Evidence from China’s Fresh Apple Industry

Abstract

We consider whether participation in cooperative organizations known as Farm Bases correlates with a farmer’s risk attitudes in China. Specifically, we seek to determine if farmers see cooperative-like organizations as a means of reducing risk or as a way of accessing riskier opportunities. Using data from a risk experiment involving 348 apple farmers, we estimate risk attitudes and correlate those indicators with participation in Farm Bases and other controls. In the case of Chinese apple producers, we find that considerations of risk are an important feature of organizational forms that involve collective decision-making, although the correlation between risk and cooperative organizational participation is nuanced.