Agricultural cooperative

Types, charter, shares, registration and taxation — organizing joint farming

By topic

Cooperative types

Production (joint production), service (services to members — machinery, sales, processing), consumer (joint purchasing). For small farmers — service coops are most common.

Membership & shares

Members — farms, sole proprietors, citizens; share contributions in cash or property. One member = one vote (regardless of share) — the key difference from an LLC.

Charter

Charter minimum: purpose, membership, shares, bodies (general meeting, board, audit committee), profit distribution, exit. Template charters available from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Registration

Minimum 3 members; registered as a legal entity via Diia/notary; founding document is the charter; non-profit status for benefits by application.

Taxation

Cooperative pays profit tax (18%) or simplified; dividends to members — 5%/9%. Transactions with members — under contracts, not 'internal'.

Record-keeping

Meeting minutes, member and share register, separate accounting of member transactions — for transparency and audit.

A guide, not legal advice — coordinate the charter and tax status with a lawyer/accountant. The co-op's main advantage — scale without losing independence: shared machinery, sales, processing while keeping separate farms.