Abstract
Currently, the system of cooperative and integration ties between agricultural producers creates conditions for the appropriate agro-industrial production, expanding the sphere of competition, contributes to the sustainable and balanced development of industries and ensuring food security. The purpose of this study is to study the current state of agricultural cooperation, to identify its problems and prospects. Objectives – to achieve this goal, scientific views have been generalized, topical issues of functioning of small businesses have been identified, recommendations to improve their efficiency have been developed. Results – based on data showing a slight decrease in the share of agriculture in GDP compared to the 1990s, an increase in the number of privately owned enterprises over the past 20 years, a reduction of public enterprises, the need to enlarge agricultural entities and unite small farms into agricultural cooperatives for joint cooperation in production, processing and marketing activities is shown. The analysis also indicates that access to financial resources for production and processing of agricultural products is limited from the WTO permissible level. The prevailing forms of cooperation in agricultural sector and factors hindering its development are considered. The positive and negative directions of cooperation of small business entities at present stage have been identified. The foreign experience of creating agricultural cooperatives is presented on the example of France, Germany, and the USA. Conclusions: on the basis of the study, it was proposed to make changes in the activities of agr icultural cooperatives: to improve the system of their financial and loan support, to improve information and consulting services and scientific support, to strengthen the system of training personnel for agricultural cooperation.