Overconfidence and Hubris: The Demise of Agricultural Co-operatives in Western Canada

The last two decades have seen major changes to the agricultural landscape in Canada and with them major changes to the co-operative sector. The grain handling co-operatives in Western Canada have disappeared, as have their counterparts in the dairy and poultry sectors. Outside of Western Canada, and particularly in Québec, co-ops in the latter sectors have remained successful, while rural retail and farm input co-operatives continue to thrive in all parts of the country. The purpose of this paper is to trace the changes that have occurred in the rural co-operative sector in Canada over the last 10-15 years. Particular attention is paid to the large agricultural co-operatives in Western Canada, since their decline has been particularly acute. It is argued that the overconfidence and hubris of co-op management were major contributing factors to the conversion of these co-ops to IOFs