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Farmers' collective action via cooperatives is critical to achieving a wide range of economic and social benefits that lead to sustainable development and enhance the welfare of rural communities. Adopting a qualitative case study method, the paper compares the development and governance attributes of two cooperatives and seeks to identify how non-economic conditions explain their differences. The cases are selected from the United Kingdom and China, representing different cultural and legislation contexts, to explore the role of culture and legislation in formulating the governance of farmer cooperatives. The results demonstrate that: (1) the formation of member groups due to considerable member heterogeneity may lead to the skewed allocation of control rights and income rights; (2) legislation play an important role in formulating the governance of cooperatives; and (3) national culture potentially has influence on cooperative governance, but direct evidence is in insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]