Several problems on the Sustainable Development of Farmers' Cooperatives

To a large extent, Chinese farmers set up or join cooperatives not to pursue certain ideas, but because cooperatives can meet the needs of members and protect and promote their economic interests. However, the prevalence of cooperatives with strong utilitarianism will inevitably affect the healthy and sustainable development of cooperatives.

In recent years, Chinese farmers' professional cooperatives have developed rapidly. According to the statistics at the end of February 2014, the number of registered farmers' specialized cooperatives has reached 1.0388 million, and 78.29 million farmers have joined the cooperatives, driving farmers to reach 30.1% of the national farmers. However, at present, the development of farmers' professional cooperatives in China shows the characteristics of heterogeneity and diversity, and the level is uneven. How to promote farmers' professional cooperatives and other types of farmers' cooperatives to follow the basic principles of cooperatives and develop healthily and sustainably? The following issues may require attention.

I. the essence of the sustainable development of farmers' professional cooperatives comes from the cultivation of their concepts, values and humanistic spirit.

The core values of cooperative members are self-help, democracy, equality, fairness and unity, and collectivism is the philosophical basis of cooperatives. The core of the basic principles of cooperatives is that members have the ownership of cooperative assets, the control of cooperative activities and the beneficial rights of cooperative benefits. The practice of cooperative movements around the world has proved that the development of farmers' cooperatives is the product of market economy, but its healthy and sustainable development depends not only on economic factors, but also on the awakening of farmers' democratic consciousness and the development of humanistic spirit. Cooperatives have their own unique cooperative culture, and cooperatives that operate successfully in all countries in the world must have their humanistic foundation. The mechanism and humanistic basis of political democracy and economic democracy in cooperatives are the foundation for cooperatives to maintain their vitality. The principle of democratic control of cooperatives is to cultivate members' awareness of participation and democracy. In democratic control, the important thing is not decision-making, but the process of decision-making, in which the discussion, the collision of various viewpoints, and finally reach a consensus and form a decision. This process is formed through democratic participation and the development of civil society, and it is a long process of development, which is the construction of cooperative culture. Without this construction, even if the co-operative is developed, it will be out of shape, change its flavor, and even die prematurely. For example, the cooperative movement in Denmark began to develop rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, and a series of changes in social conditions during this period played a positive role in the development of cooperatives. Among them, the establishment of farmers' adult evening schools is an important factor. The school provides education for adults, but many farmers' sons also attend night classes, who not only learn specific knowledge, but also focus on dialogue and discussion on historical and social issues, and actively participate in democratic decision-making. they recognized that they were responsible for their future destiny, thus laying the humanistic foundation of the Danish cooperative movement. An American cooperative scholar once said: if there is a lack of humanistic foundation and educational concepts, successful cooperatives can only last for a generation and a half, and the first generation of entrepreneurs can persist, but the second generation cannot be maintained, or disbanded. Or mutate into a general market economy organization.

To a large extent, Chinese farmers set up or join cooperatives not to pursue a certain idea, but because cooperatives can meet the needs of members and protect and promote their economic interests. However, the prevalence of cooperatives with strong utilitarianism will inevitably affect the healthy and sustainable development of cooperatives. The directors of some cooperatives were very distressed and said, "it is very troublesome to deal with farmers. Farmers can only make money, can only earn more, can only share the sunshine, not the wind and rain." You have no core competence, you can't let him make more money, he won't play with you. The sustainable development of farmers' cooperatives in China depends on the development of democratic consciousness of peasant members, the awakening of humanistic spirit and the persistent pursuit of the concept of cooperatives. To a large extent, this is also closely related to the development and improvement of the rural grass-roots democratic system. Cooperatives are big schools of democracy, where farmers learn political and economic democracy and cultivate common values, which is not only the most valuable wealth, but also the foundation of the sustainable development of cooperatives. There is a soil for the development of cooperatives in China, but only in the institutional environment of the continuous development of economic democracy and political democracy, cooperatives can really develop healthily instead of developing into alienated and pragmatic cooperatives.

II. The sustainable development of farmers' cooperatives in China needs theoretical innovation, legal revision and the emergence of cooperative entrepreneurs.

Reviewing the development history of the modern international cooperation movement for more than one hundred years, we can see that the basic principles of cooperatives are constantly developing, revising and perfecting. Even if the principles have been confirmed, the cooperation theorists still have different views, and the cooperation movements of various countries also have different practices. Under the background of globalization, the theoretical workers of Chinese cooperatives should proceed from the basic national conditions of China, with the changes of social and economic life, make theoretical innovations and interpretations of the basic principles and technical rules of cooperatives in line with China's specific national conditions, and strive to establish a Chinese school of cooperation theory.

Although China's Law on Farmers' Professional Cooperatives has stipulated the basic principles, membership, organizational structure and legal liability of cooperatives, the law is still in a period of social transformation, and it should be under the guidance of correct theory. with the change of the situation and the development of cooperatives, it is constantly revised and improved to provide a legal basis for the exploration of cooperative system arrangements.

The establishment and development of cooperatives need not only pioneers and thinkers with dedication and lofty ideas, but also cooperative entrepreneurs who are good at management. The institutional framework itself can not create achievements, performance still depends on people to achieve. If we want to promote the development of the cooperative cause, we need a group of practitioners of the cooperative movement who are rich in dedication and good at market competition. Leaders of cooperatives should have both cooperative spirit and entrepreneurial spirit, and they should not only have the concept of cooperation, but also be able to adapt to market competition, that is, as the saying goes, "good people" plus "capable people". Without excellent cooperative entrepreneurs, there can be no successful and sustainable cooperatives. Can we train a group of cooperative entrepreneurs, improve the quality of cooperative entrepreneurs, and guide them to form an interest community with farmers, so as to lay a talent foundation for the healthy and sustainable development of Chinese farmers' cooperatives in the next step?