Consumer cooperatives
are organized by consumers that want to achieve better prices or quality in the
goods or services they purchase. Opposite to the traditional retail stores or
service providers, a consumer cooperative exists to deliver goods or services
rather than to maximize profit.
Nationally,
the most widely used co-op form is the credit union, with some 90 million
members. Credit union assets have grown a hundred-fold in three decades.
Credit unions are essentially cooperatives of people that use banking services.
Other common types of consumer
cooperatives include grocery stores (food coops), energy-buying cooperatives, schools,
health care cooperatives, insurance cooperatives, and housing cooperatives.
Farmer cooperatives are businesses owned and controlled by
farmers, ranchers or growers. By their cooperatives, farmers are empowered, as
elected board members, to make decisions. When a farmer joins a cooperative,
they benefit through earnings returned on a patronage basis.
For example, a farmer-member who accounts for 10 percent
of the volume of milk delivered to the cooperative would receive 10 percent of
the net earnings derived from the handling, processing, marketing and sale of
that milk or related products. Such patronage dividends help boost the income
of farmers directly.
Through
their cooperatives, farmers are able to:
•
Improve their
income from the marketplace
•
Strengthen their
bargaining power
•
Maintain access
to competitive credit sources
•
Compete
effectively in the global economy
•
Capitalize on new
marketplace opportunities, including value-added processing
•
Manage risk
•
Access technical
assistance and other services
There
are more than 3,000 farmer cooperatives throughout the United States, whose
members include a majority of our nation’s 2 million farmers.
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