USDA's commitment to cooperative education
Jim Wadsworth
Program Leader, Education and Member Relations
USDA/RBS Cooperative Services
Cooperatives are different from other forms of business because they are organized according to fundamental, immutable tenets known as cooperative principles. As mandated by the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926, the USDA/RBS Cooperative Services program takes seriously its responsibility to promote knowledge of cooperative principles, as well as other cooperative practices. Cooperative education has been a mainstay of USDA’s co-op program for 75 years.
This long timespan alone might make one logically surmise that knowledge of cooperative principles and practices should , by the year 2001, be well ingrained in the American business and farm culture. However, reality is far different. Even third- and fourth-generation cooperative members often have only a superficial understanding of cooperative principles. Thus, education on cooperative principles and practices is as important today as it ever was.
With changing demographics and scope and structure of agri-business, a highly competitive business environment, complex decisions for producers and new concepts such as new-generation (valueadded) cooperatives, there is still a critical need for cooperative education.
Co-op education improves odds of success
Cooperative education continues to be necessary for a number of reasons. When a co-op education program is well developed and wide-reaching, it should: 1) provide a higher probability for a successful cooperative; 2) provide producers with sufficient understanding of cooperatives as a form of business enterprise to make an informed assessment of a whether to pursue the cooperative business option; and 3) provide improved understanding for individuals, the public and policymakers leading to continued support for cooperatives.
Cooperatives are more likely to be successful when their members fully understand their responsibilities to cooperative principles and the practices they involve. Odds of success for a coop also improve when the public knows how cooperatives work and can see their benefits to members and to communities, and when young people learn what cooperatives are and how they operate so that their interest in cooperatives takes hold.
When groups of producers and/or rural residents looking to develop a business idea fully understand the unique workings and benefits of cooperatives, they are better able to adequately assess the cooperative model as a potential option for prospective business endeavors.
When responsible individuals working in the public arena or making policy have a solid understanding of cooperatives, they are able to clearly see the value cooperatives bring to individuals and their industry. They are then in a better position to debate and formulate cooperative-related support, policy and law.
Education activity
Cooperative Services provides cooperative education in a number of ways. Education is proffered through a wide variety of booklets and research reports and Cooperative Services’ own bimonthly magazine, Rural Cooperatives. These publications are available both in hard copy and on the Internet. Educational materials and programs developed for high school and other ag-education programs have also been widely distributed. Videos for use by cooperative educators are available, as well. Cooperative Services acts as a library for much of the cooperative community by housing and providing a vast array of materials about many aspects of the cooperative way of doing business.
Cooperative Services research on numerous relevant cooperative topics add to the literature on cooperatives which contribute to overall education and knowledge about cooperatives. Advanced study of cooperative principles, practices, statistics, marketing, management and theory offer greater understanding of cooperatives to those involved in the cooperative arena. Cooperative research agreements with institutions of higher learning provide another vehicle for cooperative material development.
Technical assistance offered through workshops, short-term consulting and feasibility studies provide a pointed method of education to specific cooperative audiences. Educational forums and workshops are held for various cooperatives and cooperative audiences. Cooperative Services works with other cooperative professionals and educators via institutes, seminars, conferences, committees, joint projects, etc.
USDA’s cooperative education services and products are made available to cooperative members, boards of directors, managers and employees, as well as farmer groups, young farmers, young cooperators, youth and the general public.
Delivery mix combines new and old methods
Given advanced technology, cooperative information and education materials are taking new forms. PowerPoint presentations have become popular in educational settings. CD-ROM and Web site interactive programs are being developed to teach cooperative principles and practices through electronic means. Web sites of government agencies, cooperatives, cooperative development centers, cooperative associations, etc., are proliferating and a major goal of these platforms is to inform people about cooperatives. These electronic delivery systems will see further development and refinement in the years ahead. Cooperative Services is also working toward greater involvement in this important area.
At the same time, it is important to realize that cooperative education is still developed and delivered the old-fashioned way—these efforts are often individually tailored to specific audiences. This is done largely on a piecemeal basis, where educators develop “packaged” materials dependent on the specified cooperative-topic needs of given groups. Hard copies of quality educational pamphlets and reports remain in demand and are still used extensively.
It is apparent that cooperative education will be delivered as a mix of systems in the future. Cooperative Services and other educators will rely on blending quality components of both the old ways and the new to spread the word of cooperative principles and practices.
An enduring commitment
Cooperative Services is a leader in providing public assistance to cooperatives, much of it in an educational vein. As RBS Deputy Administrator Randall Torgerson says: “Public sector assistance to the cooperative sector is distinguished in this country as being facilitating—not regulatory—in nature. An underlying rationale for use of taxpayers’ dollars supporting this activity is that cooperatives assist those in the marketplace who are structurally disadvantaged by their relative size and access to markets, and the fact that cooperatives actually are viewed as a competition-enhancing force in the marketplace from which all of society benefits.”
It is with this philosophy—in conjunction with the mandate of the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926— that Cooperative Services extends cooperative education services and products to cooperatives, rural residents, and the general public. The ongoing need for education on cooperative principles and practices will not diminish and Cooperative Services has an enduring commitment to being a principal provider.
