Trust and solidarity in Bulgarian cooperatives

The paper analyzes the strategies of people in agriculture, especially in the mountain regions where the fragmentation of land is significant. The quantity of land there is also limited. This leads to important consequences for the agrarian development. The culture of keeping the lands of the predecessors burdens the market of agricultural lands. The renting of lands depends on the types of plants to be cultivated as the law for renting lands allows contracts for the max of five years and for the farmers it is insecure to cultivate perennial plants on such lands. In this situation the survival of the small-scale farmers depends on their ability to coop and support each other. The article describes the emergence of a coop for bioproduction of roses, mint and milk in the "Valley of Roses", Karlovo and Gabrovo regions, the solidarity between the farmers, the stimuli and barriers to their activities. It reveals the culture of mutual support based not so much on economic but rather on other incentives such as love to nature and environment, strong desire to prove that bioproduction could develop in the country and that bioproducts are the future for Bulgarian agriculture. It is a different coop in comparison with the socialist collectives. The now established coop unites the farmers for education, qualification, market and mutual support for objectives, but each farmer produces his/her products alone. The farmers sell the products together and each one depends on the culture of others' conscious cultivation of bioproducts. Until now, the experience has been positive and the coop has sustainable development. This is also due to the creation of three professional organizations - the coop as a producing unit, organization for distributing knowledge on organic production and a certifying organization of bioproducts. The survival of the coop depends on farmers’ hard work and solidarity, the strong will to survive, the hope for future significant agricultural support and subsidies when the European Union enlargement involves Bulgaria and the improvement of the economic situation in the country that could bring better buying abilities of the population