FARMER CO-OPS TIE SALES RECORD; NET INCOME NEAR RECORD LEVEL
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21, 1998 -- The nation's farmer-owned cooperatives had $106.1 billion in net business volume in 1997, equaling the record set in 1996, Agriculture Under Secretary Jill Long Thompson announced today. Business volume includes gross receipts from the sale of crops, livestock, farm supplies and services collected by the nation's 3,793 agricultural cooperatives.
Farmer cooperatives also reported net income of $2.31 billion in 1997, the second highest on record and an increase of 3 percent from $2.25 billion in 1996, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The net income record of $2.36 billion was set in 1995.
"Farmer-owned cooperatives are vital to the rural economy because they help producers ensure that they receive a fair price for their crops and livestock," said Long Thompson, under secretary for rural development. "Cooperatives now market about one-third of the nation's farm commodities -- a record high. They also handle more than one-quarter of all farm supplies sold to farmers and ranchers."
Marketing cooperatives (those that sell crops, livestock and value-added products for their members) and farm service cooperatives (which provide services such as cotton ginning, trucking or livestock breeding) increased net income nearly $174 million, or 13.3 percent, in 1997. Among commodity groups, fruit/vegetable and grain/oilseed cooperatives reported the biggest net income gains, up nearly $132 million and $60 million, respectively.
"A major reason for the high sales and income levels is that more farmer cooperatives are turning the crops and livestock of their members into value-added goods," said Long Thompson. "This trend is important, because it helps keep more farm dollars at home in rural America. And because cooperatives are producer-owned, profits are plowed back into the business or returned to farmer-members."
Sales of farm supplies by cooperatives increased 5.3 percent in 1997, to $24.9 billion. Sales increased for all major farm supply items, with the biggest gains for livestock feed, up 10.2 percent. Income from services provided by cooperatives and other miscellaneous income was nearly $3.7 billion, up from $3.1 billion in 1996.
Memberships in farmer cooperatives totaled 3.4 million in 1997, down 6.7 percent from 1996. The number of memberships is larger than the number of farmers in the United States because many farmers belong to more than one cooperative.
Cooperatives employed 172,199 full-time employees in 1997, down from 174,795 in 1996.
Statistical information is listed in the tables below:
Table 1--Farmer Cooperatives' Net Business Volume, 1997 and 1996
Table 2--Farmer Cooperatives' Net Income, 1997 and 1996
Table 3--Farmer Cooperative Numbers and Memberships, 1997
Public Contact: Dan Campbell, (202) 720-6483
dcampbel@rurdev.usda.gov
Table 1--FARMER COOPERATIVES' NET BUSINESS VOLUME, 1997 AND 1996(1)
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Net business volume(2)
Commodity or function **************************
1997 1996
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Million dollars
Products marketed:
Cotton 3,002 2,659
Dairy 23,312 22,935
Fruits and vegetables 9,260 9,392
Grains and oilseeds(3) 24,609 27,657
Livestock and poultry 9,578 8,479
Rice 930 900
Sugar 2,087 1,933
Other products(4) 4,788 5,474
Total 77,568 79,429
Supplies sold:
Crop protectants 3,069 2,829
Feed 5,938 5,388
Fertilizer 5,288 5,201
Petroleum 6,654 6,295
Seed 670 658
Other supplies(5) 3,294 3,281
Total farm supplies 24,912 23,653
Services and other income:(6) 3,652 3,100
Total 106,132 106,182
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(1) Preliminary. Totals may not add due to rounding.
(2) Excludes intercooperative business. Volume includes value of products
associated with cooperatives that operate on a commission basis and
bargain for members' products.
(3) Excludes cottonseed.
(4) Includes dry edible beans and peas, fish, nuts, tobacco, wool and other
miscellaneous products.
(5) Includes building materials, containers, hardware,
tires-batteries-accessories (TBA), farm machinery and equipment,
food and other supplies.
(6) Includes trucking, ginning, storage, artificial insemination, rice
drying and other.
Table 2--FARMER COOPERATIVES' NET INCOME, 1997 AND 1996(1)
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Total net income(2)
Cooperative type ***************************
1997 1996
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Million dollars
Marketing:
Cotton 67.7 84.2
Dairy 369.7 373.9
Fruit and vegetable 189.7 58.0
Grain and oilseed 437.0 377.0
Livestock and poultry 191.4 223.5
Rice 7.3 12.3
Sugar -2.0 9.1
Other marketing(3) 52.5 42.9
Total 1,313.3 1,181.0
Farm supply 834.6 941.5
Related-service(4) 166.5 125.0
Total 2,314.4 2,247.5
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(1) Preliminary. Totals may not add due to rounding.
(2) Net income less losses.
(3) Includes bean and pea (dry edible), nut, tobacco, wool, fish and
miscellaneous marketing cooperatives.
(4) Includes trucking, cotton gins, storage, artificial
insemination, rice driers and other service cooperatives.
Table 3--FARMER COOPERATIVE NUMBERS AND MEMBERSHIPS, 1997(1)
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Cooperative type Cooperatives(2) Memberships
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Number
Marketing:
Cotton(3) 16 42,671
Dairy 239 104,912
Fruit and vegetable 259 43,976
Grain and oilseed 1,013 744,445
Livestock and poultry 108 270,304
Rice 18 13,969
Sugar 51 13,825
Other marketing(4) 239 263,181
Total 1,943 1,497,283
Farm supply 1,386 1,736,197
Related-service(5) 464 182,982
Total 3,793 3,416,462
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(1) Preliminary.
(2) Operations of many cooperatives are multi product and multifunctional.
They are classified in most cases according to predominant commodity or
function as indicated by business volume.
(3) Cooperative cotton gins included with related-service cooperatives.
(4) Includes bean and pea (dry edible), nut, tobacco, wool, fish, and
miscellaneous marketing cooperatives.
(5) Includes cooperatives that primarily provide trucking, cotton ginning,
storage, artificial insemination, rice drying and services related to
marketing of farm products and/or sale of farm supplies.
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