Community Enterprise’s Potentials in Organic Agriculture Product Development in Suphanburi

The objectives of this research were to study information of community enterprises in U-thong District, Suphanburi Province and select potential prototype community enterprises to develop organic agricultural products, based on theoretical and contextual elements of community enterprises in Thailand. The study was conducted by reviewing documents and interviewing with administrators at the provincial and district levels. Analysis of 105 potential components of community enterprises covering 13 sub-districts led to the selection of 20 enterprises. The researcher then interviewed the chairman of the community enterprise and discussed the group members of the community enterprise. The key informants were introduced by Snowball Sampling.The findings from this research showed that Tung Thong Yang Yun Organic Agriculture Community Enterprise is the group with the most potent components, which are change leadership, conservation of organic agricultural wisdom, establishing an organic farming community with the goal of creating good mental health and good physical health for families, communities and the environment, Learning from practice and new knowledge, intellectual stimulation with knowledge and other person’s opinions, accumulating of wisdom knowledge, and well-manage of learning process and network. With support from the government, the enterprise has better performance. There are increasing in networks and members, sales revenue and enterprise fund. The status of members is getting better.According to interviewing with key informants, I find that community enterprises in each sub-district of U-thong had their own strengths in the field of culture and local wisdom, link with ethnic groups and their way of life. Most areas grow rice and other fruits and vegetables. From the information obtained from the recommendations of the province and district government officers and presidents of the community enterprise, I find that there are 20 community enterprises with participatory processes of members and co-production from 13 sub-districts. After studying the potential components of community enterprises in 6 aspects, it is found that the prototype community enterprise is Tung Thong Yang Yun Organic Agriculture Community Enterprise, located in Jorakhe Samphan sub-district. The president is Mr.Punya Klaikluan. The SWOT analysis (Kotter, 2000) shows the change in consumer behavior and future trend that relates to health care business, including the impact on operations. Customer needs are new products, such as rice, vegetables, and fruits of international standards. Based on the analysis of strengths and opportunities in the development of organic products of the prototype community enterprises, the president is committed and diligent. He attempts to learn and modify the methods of farming and planting non-chemical crops, improve raw material quality and productivity. Leadership strength effects on another 5 aspects; continuous knowledge development, members learning process by bi-monthly meetings, community organizations, and networks that have rules / regulations and relationships with other groups, knowledge and market support from outside agencies, and the operating results with revenue and member dividend increasing every year. The opportunity to develop unique organic products, both as fresh fruits and vegetables and as raw materials for production of confectionery and semi-finished products such as cereal beverages, for Lemon Farms Shop and Xongdur Thai Organic Foods Co., Ltd., shows the strength of the members and their self-reliance.