The Big Idea

Multi-stakeholder cooperatives

Multi-stakeholder cooperatives (MSC) (or solidarity cooperatives) are co-ops that include two or more stakeholder groups in ownership and governance of the organisation. In food and farming this usually means farmers and consumers, but can also include workers involved in other activities related to the food system (e.g. processing and distribution).

This novel arrangement is aimed at overcoming the conflict of interest between producers and consumers inherent in a capitalist market-driven food system. Among those calling for a transition to a more solidarity-based and public good focused economy (e.g. P2P Foundation and DisCO Coop many have come to see this multi-stakeholder model of cooperation as an important vehicle for social and ecological transformation. Yet there is very little research on MSCs, especially in the context in agri-food systems.

An Extraordinary Story

Hansalim, a large-scale MSC in Korea

Over 30 years ago, however, in South Korea an ecological alternative movement was born that founded what has become one of the largest multi-stakeholder cooperatives in organic food in the world, Hansalim.

In 1989 a group of Korean intellectuals published the Hansalim Manifesto which opposed the contemporary project of environmentally destructive and socially oppressive industrialization. Instead they presented an alternative vision of social and ecological transformation rooted in an ecological and spiritual worldview that drew on indigenous Korean philosophy.

The movement adopted food as a symbol of the interconnectedness of humans and nature, forming a national association of organic food cooperatives with the goal of supporting symbiotic relationships between rural farmers and urban consumers.

Over the following decades, Hansalim grew to a membership of 750,000 consumer households and 2,220 farming households - nearly 3% of the country’s population! But Hansalim is much more than an organic food co-op.

This self-sustaining cooperative, funded by its economic activities, continues to serve the public good and its project of wider societal transformation through Hansalim’s educational and advocacy activities and alliances and even funds its own research centre, the Mosim and Salim Research Institute (Mosim) whose purpose is to be the “conscience” of the social movement, providing a constructively critical perspective on its history and evolution.

A Rare Example

Hansalim is a remarkable example of an MSC developing sufficient scale, complexity and diversity that it can sustain a large-scale alternative agri-food system even within a highly urbanised industrialised capitalist economy.

This is rare if not unheard of in English-speaking academic literature on Alternative Food Networks (AFN) which focuses mainly on small-scale Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), producer cooperatives and consumer cooperatives in North America , Europe, Australia and China.

The Goal of the Project

Through my research, in partnership with the Mosim and Salim Research Institute, I am investigating what lessons Hansalim’s experience holds for other cooperative groups and movements in the UK and EU as we strive to transform our food systems away from industrialized models towards a fairer and more sustainable future.

The story of Hansalim and reflections on their experience will be presented in the form of an online open access book published at book.livingtogether.xyz as it is being written. It will also be written up into academic papers for publication in international journals.

I also hope to facilitate networking between Hansalim and other cooperative and ecological alternative movements outside Korea. Thus, the final year of the project will include visits to interested groups and co-ops in the UK and Europe and culminate in a symposium to gather researchers and practitioners together with representatives of Hansalim to share knowledge and experience.

Keep an eye on the Events section of the blog for updates. And check out the section for more details about the project and related research.