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Show SIX BILLION A YEAR Farm Co-ops Do Huge Trade If volume of trade is any indication, indica-tion, America's farm cooperatives are establishing themselves ever more firmly as a significant force in the realm of agriculture. In the 1945-46 marketing year, farm cooperatives, with more than five million individual farmers participating, par-ticipating, did a record six billion dollar business, according to an estimate by the farm credit administration admi-nistration of the department of agri- i culture. (The FCA report came at a time when a house small business subcommittee sub-committee was investigating any possible advantages the co-ops might have over other business because of the fact that they are tax-exempt and private enterprises are not.) Leading in dollar volume of trade were some 2,256 grain cooperatives which handled 1.45 billion dollars worth of business during the year covered by the report. Dairy marketing mar-keting associations previously were the leading organizations in the coop co-op field. The record business of all types represents a 400-million-dollar increase in-crease above the cooperative volume vol-ume in the 1944-45 marketing year, FCA reported. It was emphasized, however, that "part of this increase is undoubtedly due to the rise in prices of products farmers sell and of supplies that farmers buy." Minnesota again led all statos in the number of farm cooperatives, 1,352 of them reporting memberships member-ships totalling 506,000 farmers. Illinois Illi-nois was second in membership with 485,000, while Wisconsin was second in the number of associations associa-tions w;th 1,002, most of them dairy groups. In dollar volume, the huge California Cali-fornia cooperatives led the field with 652 million dollars, while Minnesota Min-nesota was second with 477 million dollars. Grains, dry beans and rice marketing mar-keting cooperatives accounted for 2,256 associations, 536,000 members and 1.49 billions in dollar volume to take first place for the year among commodity groupings. |
