Danish farmers have developed their own strategies to respond to environmental regulations of manure application. Selfgoverning manure exchanges have been widely undertaken by farmers for more than a decade, giving rise to well-established practices. However, there is little factual knowledge about the extent and functioning of such existing partnerships between farms as well as farmers’ perceptions of what constitutes successful arrangements.

Based on registry and farmer survey data the PhD thesis shows that the vast majority of manure exporters know their partners prior to establishing manure arrangements, either as family or neighbors, or through their local or professional networks. Social relationships are also shown to play an important role in shaping the functions of partnerships, expressed for example in the burden-sharing of manure transportation and spreading, frequency of communication, duration of the partnership and transport distance. The most important aspects of farmers' perception of successful collaborative arrangements seem to be trust, continuity, flexibility and accessibility.

These findings supplement the understanding of farmer collaboration based on spatial-economic models which only take into account economic criteria for decision making concerning resource use. Also, they illuminate the many formal and informal connections between farmers developed for other types of local action.