In recent years, the number of amalgamations of agricultral cooperatives is rapidly increasing and a lot of amalgamation plans are proposed. But little empirical works has done. This paper investigates a new method for specifing the optimal amalgamation of agricultural coopretives and applies it to Shonai district.
The procedure follows:
1) a long-run cost function of each department is estimated,
2) using the cost function, total costs (the total costs of cooperatives in the district) for all possible amalgamations are calculated, and
3) the amalgamation which minimize the total cost is identifed as the optimal amalgamation.
Because a huge time is necessary to calculate all total costs for possible amalgamations, we apply the Pierce's 0-1 integer programing for the calculation.
In the case of Shonai, the optimal number of coopratives turns to be 5. This is far less than the present number. And each cooprative after the amalgamation is well-balanced in terms of the size of each department.
Our method is useful for making the draft for the amalgamation of cooperatives.

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In this paper, the author inquires about functional and organizational issues of apple marketing cooperatives at Suzaka in Nagano Prefecture and at Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture.
The rationale for the existence of marketing cooperatives is that these specialized agents can often perform the marketing functions more efficiently than individual farmers. The marketing cooperatives constitute a horizontal integration of producers., the gain of specialization is marked by economies of scale.
It is difficult to organize a marketing cooperative over village communities, since the marketing cooperative has organized according to community rules. The apple marketing cooperatives based on communities at Toyosu and Suzaka in Suzaka are these examples. To realize more scale economies, marketing cooperatives are occasionally reorganized according to functional purposes. The Toyosu apple marketing cooperative in Suzaka is the example. Marketing cooperatives have functional purpose, but on the other hand they are managed as organizations of community.
In Aomori, there are so many way to sell apples profitably that the apple marketing cooperatives do not become community organizations. But in Nagano, there are not so many way to sell apples that the apple marketing cooperatives are needed to be community organizations.
I analyze questionaries to representatives and members of apple marketing cooperatives.
I conclude that the functional marketing cooperative, which is essentially based on a rural community, is needed in order to establish a new production center of vegetables ond fruits.

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The profitability of Agricultural Cooperatives (which is abbreviated to AC) is stagnating, so the farming promotion activity is by no means the sanctuary of AC. The severer the environment surrounding AC is, the more efficient the practice should be. Therefore, AC rationally needs to choose its functions among many potential functions.
The purpose of the article is to investigate the framework of the farming promotion strategies of AC and to show what the choice of activities should be.
Firstly, we apply “the theory of management strategy” to clarify the structure of the related domain of the farming promotion strategy and its decision process.
Secondly, we give a general scheme of choosing functions. The system of ways to choose functions is determined by three responsibilities and three principles. Three responsibilities are for member, for organization of AC, and for society.
Three principles are of importance, of must-be and attractive functions formation, and of functional chain.
Thirdly, we clarify the system of functions.
Fourthly, we clarify what is the strategic procedure to select functions under a environment.
Finally, we give a case study, which investigates the promotion activities of enokimushrooms by the AC in Nakano city, to make clear the interrelation between the development of production area and the choice of functions of AC. We conclude that the establishment of production area is mainly accomplished by the appropriate choice of functions and by the good performance of the selected functions of AC under well-defined goals.

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