SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON ORGANIZATIONAL AND LEGAL FEATURES OF AGRICULTURAL SERVICE COOPERATIVES’ FUNCTIONING IN UKRAINE: INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE ASPECT

Aggravation of the socio-economic situation, increasing intensity of competition, encourage agricultural producers to seek various forms of communication, cooperation, mutual assistance, which led to the intensification of the cooperative movement in Ukraine and the creation of different types of agricultural cooperatives. Such cooperation is especially relevant in the context of the formation of a free market (circulation) of agricultural land, which poses certain threats from landlessness to loss of competitive position and even cessation of activities, especially for small agricultural producers. Another challenge for smallholder farmers has been the signing of an Association Agreement, which provides both opportunities and challenges to increase both domestic as well as foreign agricultural and commodity producers. Taking into account the difficult political, economic and social situation in the country as well as in rural areas, a special attention demands the comparative study of organizational and legal features of the establishment, operation and prospects of agricultural service cooperatives (hereinafter – ASC) in Ukraine, taking the international experience. It was done deep study and identified the barriers concerning the development of agricultural service cooperatives and were made suggestions for overcoming them.