New Generation of Agricultural Cooperatives: World Experiences and Lessons for Iran

Increasing need to include marketing in agricultural cooperative activities، in one hand، and a need to adapt traditional cooperative to new situation، on the otherhand، have caused agricultural cooperatives، especially in developed countries، in response to new demand facing fundamental changes. One of these innovations is development of market – oriented cooperatives with special characteristics called «new generation cooperatives». This paper aims، first، to review some criticism made in the literature in relation to traditional cooperative principles، second، reviewing the principles and new experiences related to new generation cooperatives and finally، pointing out lessons that could be learned from these experiences to assist policy makers in order to bring about some reforms in the structure of agricultural cooperatives in Iran.