Farmer co-op business
volume nears $117 billion
Editor’s note: Information for this article
was compiled by the Statistics Staff of
USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative
Service, including Celestine C. Adams,
Katherine C. DeVille, Jacqueline E. Penn
and E. Eldon Eversull.
armer-owned cooperatives
had gross sales of
nearly $117 billion in
2003, up 4.4 percent
from $112 billion in
2002. Increases in crop and livestock
production helped boost total sales,
more than offsetting the effect of the
bankruptcies of two large cooperatives.
Total co-op farm marketing (which
includes the sale of all crops, livestock
and value-added goods) climbed 4 percent,
farm supply sales increased 7.5
percent and receipts from farm services
were up marginally (table 1), according
to an annual survey conducted by the
Cooperative Services office of USDA
Rural Development.
Income (before taxes) for all U.S.
farmer cooperatives was $1.4 billion in
2003, up from $1.2 billion in 2002.
Overall, cooperatives saw higher levels
of equity capital on their balance
sheets, but it still remains low, averaging
42 percent of all assets. Cooperative
assets increased 1 percent, liabilities
remained about the same and equity
increased about 2 percent (figure 2).
The bankruptcies of the federated
co-ops mentioned above resulted in
drastically lower patronage refund
income for local farmer cooperatives,
which fell by 78 percent. As a result,
many cooperatives experienced a
write-down in their equity accounts.
Overall, net income before taxes
increased by almost 18 percent, even
with lower patronage income.
Farmer cooperatives remain one of
the largest employers in many rural
communities, with overall employment
increasing by 1 percent, to 223,000 in
2003. Full-time employee numbers
declined by almost 2 percent, to
164,000, while part-time and seasonal
employees increased almost 10 percent,
to 59,000.
Farm numbers continue to decline, as do co-op
memberships and the number of farmer cooperatives.
Cooperative memberships stand at 2.7 million,
down about 2 percent from 2002. Many
farmers are members of more than one cooperative,
hence cooperative memberships exceed U.S.
farm numbers. There are now 2,982 farmer cooperatives,
down from 3,140 in 2002.
