Marketing and production contracts covered 39 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production in 2003, up from 36 percent in 2001 and a substantial increase over estimated values of 28 percent for 1991 and 11 percent in 1969. Large farms are far more likely to contract than small farms; in...

More than half of all transactions for U.S. agricultural products are still conducted through spot market exchanges, in which commodities are bought and sold in open market transactions for immediate delivery. But a growing share of U.S. farm production is produced and sold under agricultural...

Production and marketing contracts govern 36 percent of the value of U.S. agricultural production, up from 12 percent in 1969. Contracts are now the primary method of handling sales of many livestock commodities, including milk, hogs, and broilers, and of major crops such as sugar beets, fruit,...

Formation of the Producers Export Company (PEC) in 1958 was a first attempt by grain cooperatives to develop an export merchandising program. PEC's nationwide membership had different export needs and financial resources which imposed constraints on PEC's strategy and operations. A lack of...

Farmers buying plant food from cooperatives paid 8 percent less per ton than those buying from other firms. On the average, farmers paid $361 per ton of nutrient from cooperatives in 1975, compared with the $392 they paid noncooperatives. This price differential of $31 a ton saved cooperative...

When earnings decline in the face of rising production costs, farmers may find leasing and renting more attractive than owning their equipment. This-study provides information to cooperative machinery dealers and production credit associations on the benefits, drawbacks, and potential of leasing...

This study of operations and services was requested by the Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association of Baraboo, Wisconsin. It appraises nearly 20 years of operations following a transition from terminal market and private treaty selling to auction markets. Goal setting, consolidation or...

Pulse production in the United States has become geographically specific and concentrated, and the marketing channels for pulses have changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The most marked change has be~n the growth of large proprietary marketing firms which are vertically integrated as...

This study is the first to present a broad statistical picture of operations exporting cooperatives. Included are data pertaining to dollar volumes, destinations, and cooperative shares of total U.S. agricultural export volumes, phis information about marketing channels, foreign offices and...