Agricultural Cooperatives In The United States Today

In the United States today, there are 3,000 agricultural cooperatives, with 2.8 million memberships, a total net income of nearly $1.2 billion and net business volume of more than $96 billion. Cooperatives allow farmers to join together to market, bargain, process, and purchase supplies and services so that the group of them can achieve better economic or financial outcomes than they would by working alone. The majority of our country's two million farmers are members of these cooperatives. They are very important as they provide over 250 thousand jobs and annual wages of over $8 billion. With the current generation of farmers nearing retirement age, the next generation needs as much resources, technology, and knowledge they can get to be able to fill their role. Passing on this information is essential to keep these agricultural cooperatives alive in the coming years.

By becoming members of these cooperatives, the next generation of agriculturists has access to resources they need to be successful, that they may not have been able to receive if they were working alone. These resources could include the sharing of farming machinery, delivery of their products to markets, and easier access to loans. Sharing of machinery allows smaller farms access to expensive machinery that they otherwise would not have been able to afford. Cooperatives that bring the products from farms to markets help farms that may not have the necessary transportation to deliver their own products. Access to loans allows farmers to easily obtain the inputs they need for their farm, such as seeds and