Dairy Policy and Dairy Cooperatives in Germany

The student’s PhD research focuses on the relationship between the dairy policy and dairy cooperatives in Germany in the context of agricultural industrialization and globalization. Traditionally, dairy cooperatives and producers were regarded as “sitting in the same boat” because dairy cooperatives are owned by producers and help producers collectively bargain to gain a fair price for their milk. Recently, however, this relationship has featured friction and divergent discourse, which poses internal governance challenges to the cooperatives. At the same time, dairy cooperatives, together with their producer-owners, have experienced major policy changes in the last three decades. Are these two issues – the cooperatives’ internal governance challenges and the policy changes – interrelated? What are the underlying political and economic forces driving the changes? Focusing on these questions, the student would like to draw on the expertise of Prof. Dr. Hanisch at the Humboldt University of Berlin to develop a PhD research proposal, literature review, and initial data collection during her stay in Germany.

Faculty Supervisor:

Murray Fulton

Student:

Partner:

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program: