Intermediate objects to help coordination between breeders and dairies. Example of a goat dairy cooperative in Southern France

Abstract

Managing the seasonality of milk production is a challenge for collection and processing companies. We explored here the relevance of enhancing complementarities between production systems in a collection basin. The implementation of a coordination mechanism was proposed to identify these complementarities with regard to an issue negotiated between the farmers and the dairy. It was designed as an itinerary: i) identify primary activities, ii) analyze their interactions, iii) phrase a shared diagnosis, and iv) identify courses of action. At each step, we proposed to produce graphic representations built from the practices of the actors and the objects to which they related. These representations were used as intermediate objects. From an action-research project conducted with a small dairy cooperative in the south of France, we showed that the representations of deliveries or collection could be used as intermediate objects to enable the understanding of herd management or marketing strategy of the cooperative, and to help analyze the interactions between these activities and the development of a common project. In conclusion, simple and pragmatic representations have been shown to be effective and interesting tools to adopt in the course of collective actions involving coordination between breeders and cooperatives.