Farm co-op business volueme
increases slightly in 2000


Editor’s note: Information for this article
was compiled by the Statistics Staff of USDA’s
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, including
Charles A. Kraenzle, Celestine C. Adams,
Katherine C. DeVille, Jacqueline E. Penn
and Ralph M. Richardson.



et business volume of the nation’s farmer-owned cooperatives was $99.7 billion in 2000, up slightly from $99.1 billion in 1999 despite low commodity prices in many agricultural sectors, according to USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS).

Farm supply sales increased from $23.2 billion in 1999 to $24.1 billion in 2000, a 3.9 percent increase, while the value of farm products marketed was $72.06 billion, up 0.1 percent from 1999. Receipts from services provided by cooperatives and investment income dropped from $3.9 billion to $3.5 billion, a 10.1 percent decline.

Net business volume includes gross receipts from the sale of crops, livestock, farm supplies and services collected by the nation’s 3,346 farmer cooperatives. It excludes business between cooperatives.

Lower average farm milk price (down 13.8 percent from 1999) was a major factor in holding down the overall sales value by all types of farm marketing cooperatives. Milk and milk product sales fell $3.3 billion (12.6 percent) from 1999. However, dollar volume by cooperatives of all other commodities (except rice) increased, paced by a $1.3 billion increase in the sale of grains and oilseeds.

Farm supply sales climbed 3.9 percent, due mainly to higher prices for petroleum. Petroleum sales increased nearly $1.2 billion, or 19.1 percent. Seed sales were up nearly $200 million, or 21.7 percent. Sales declined for feed, fertilizer and “other” supplies.

Net income (or earnings) before income taxes for cooperatives dropped to $1.28 billion in 2000, down from $1.33 billion in 1999. This was the lowest net income reported since 1986. The record for net income by cooperatives was $2.36 billion in 1995.

Net income dropped $3.7 million (0.4 percent) for marketing cooperatives, despite a $64.2 million (or 23.2- percent increase) for dairy cooperatives, which saw earnings climb from $276.6 million in 1999 to $340.8 million in 2000. That gain was offset by lower net income for grain and oilseed cooperatives, which dropped from $324.5 million in 1999 to $274.5 million in 2000, and by losses by livestock/ poultry and sugar cooperatives.

















Farm supply cooperatives reported a $41.3 million (11.7 percent) drop in net income. Net income for “related-service” cooperatives (those that perform services such as fertilizer and chemical application, trucking or livestock breeding) dropped nearly $6.9 million, or 6.6 percent.

Combined assets of farmer-owned cooperatives reached $49.7 billion in 2000, up $2 billion (4.3 percent) from 1999. Marketing cooperatives accounted for $32.9 billion, or 66.1 percent, of coop assets while farm supply operation accounted for $15.9 billion, or 32 percent of co-op assets. Related-service co-ops accounted for $0.9 billion, or 1.9 percent of assets. Farm supply cooperatives’ assets climbed $1.5 billion, or 10.3 percent — the major factor in the overall increase in assets. Fruit and vegetable, cotton, dairy and rice cooperatives’ assets decreased in 2000.



Net worth (or equity) of farmer cooperatives totaled $20.28 billion in 2000, about the same as in 1999, which means cooperatives financed more assets with debt capital rather than net worth. Marketing cooperatives’ total equity was $12.7 billion and accounted for 62.4 percent of cooperatives’ total equity.

Farm supply cooperatives, with $7.1 Farm supply cooperatives, with $7.1 billion in total net worth, accounted for nearly 35 percent. Related-service cooperatives accounted for the remaining $0.5 billion, or 2.6 percent. Marketing and related-service cooperatives $0.5 billion, or 2.6 percent. Marketing and related-service cooperatives reported net worth decreased by $174.5 million, or 1.3 percent, while farm supply cooperatives increased total net worth $186.4 million, a 2.6 percent gain.

The number of U.S. farm cooperatives dropped to 3,346, down from 3,466 in 1999, or 3.5 percent. Mergers, consolidations, acquisitions and dissolutions resulted in a reduction of 164 cooperatives. However, 44 cooperatives were added to USDA’s list in 2000.

Memberships in farmer cooperatives totaled 3.09 million in 2000, down 2.8 percent from 1999. Memberships in farm supply cooperatives totaled 1.7 million, or 55.7 percent of the total. Marketing cooperatives had 1.2 million memberships, or 40.3 percent, and relatedservice cooperatives’ memberships totaled 0.1 million, or 4 percent. The number of memberships continued to be larger than the number of farmers in the United States because many farmers belong to more than one cooperative.




November/December Table of Contents