COMMENTARY

Stories behind the numbers

• $146 billion — The total sales racked up in 2007 by U.S. farm, ranch and fishery co-ops (see page 19), easily setting a new record. For those pundits and “coffee-shop economists” who predicted that the collapse of Farmland Industries heralded the end of the nation’s ag co-op sector, please take note!
• $3.8 billion — The record net income co-ops enjoyed in 2007 (see page 19). Much of this was paid to members as cash patronage or (in the case of federated co-ops) to local cooperatives.
  Where do we get these numbers? From USDA’s annual co-op survey. Co-op managers and accountants put a lot of time and effort into filling out those surveys every year — for which we thank you! The numbers generated by the survey are used in many ways, not the least of which is to show how critically important co-ops are to the nation’s economic lifeblood.
• $100 million — The amount of money the fresh tomato industry is estimated to have lost when tomatoes were erroneously blamed for the nation’s largest outbreak of food poisoning in a decade (see page 13). One hesitates to become a Monday morning quarterback in these situations, because there is no doubt that all involved were trying their utmost to get the mystery solved as quickly as possible. But clearly, government and industry must resolve to work even more closely together to make system improvements needed to avoid a repeat scenario.
• 100 — The number of years since the Dairylea co-op was formed (see page 16). Dairylea reached this milestone in part by reinventing itself into a multifaceted member services cooperative that meets the needs of its dairy farmers in many ways beyond marketing milk. This is a good example of why so many co-ops are reaching their 75th or 100th anniversaries. In the past year alone, we’ve run similar anniversary salutes to Aurora Cooperative (100), West Central (75), and Fruit Growers Supply (100) — and there are more to come. Their longevity bespeaks to the durability of the cooperative business structure. Well managed co-ops that adjust to changes in the marketplace and keep their fingers on the pulse of their members’ needs can, and will, succeed.
• 75 — Speaking of anniversaries, we conclude the 75th anniversary retrospective of this magazine with excerpts from articles that ran in our pages between 1970 and 2008. From the farm credit crisis to the ramping up of the renewable fuels industry, it has been an eventful 38 years for coops and their members.
• 11 — Last, but certainly not least, the number of names on the seaman’s memorial outside Port Clyde, Maine, commemorating local fishermen lost at sea while helping to feed the nation. A few of their stories are recounted in a sidebar (page 6) to this month’s cover story about a new Maine fishing co-op. That so many good men have been lost from just one small community while harvesting the sea does indeed give pause.
  I’d wager most farming and ranching counties around the nation could erect similar memorials with the names of hometown farmers and ranchers killed or maimed over the years while producing food, fiber and energy.
  In my five years as a newspaper farm editor in California, I recall twice running articles about local dairymen crushed to death by Holstein bulls, a cotton farmer killed when an irrigation pipe he was hauling hit a power line, and a farm worker killed while pruning trees.
  And let’s not forget utility co-op line crew workers who risk life and limb every time they go up in a bucket to restore power or extend new service lines.
  As we observe Co-op Month in October, let’s do so with a salute to the men and women who produce our food, on land and at sea, and those who keep the power on so that we can cook it. They are the ones who risk it all to keep our co-ops, and our nation, running.

September/October Table of Contents