A history of U.S. black farmers pursuit of independent farming and the role of cooperatives from 1865-2000.

Farmers' purchasing characteristics, reasons for choosing suppliers, and purchasing strategies were different for fertilizer, fuel, feed, and pesticide purchases of 100 commercial sized farmers. With fuel, few price discounts were received and few supplier changes made. More price adjustments...

The producer-members of the proposed Albemarle Cotton Growers Cooperative presently experience costly and dangerous conditions in transporting seed cotton to distant ginning sites. These growers seek to acquire locally a cooperatively owned and operated cotton gin. This study of the proposed...

The Nation's 435 dairy cooperatives marketed 95.6 billion pounds of milk, or about 77 percent of all milk sold to plants and dealers in 1980. There were 146 cooperatives with no milk handling facilities, 97 with only milk and cream receiving stations, and 192 operating 456 dairy processing and...

A total of 2,060 local cooperative associations handled 4.7 billion bushels of grain during the 1982-83 marketing year. This is about 41 percent of all grain sold off-farm during the year. Cooperative grain storage capacity totaled 2.5 billion bushels. Corn, at 1 .5 billion bushels, ranked as...

Montana Livestock Cooperative and the Utah-based Intermountain Livestock Packing Association are meatpacking cooperatives established through equity and livestock commitments by producers. Their goals are to obtain sufficient capital to construct and operate a slaughter/processing plant. Member...

This study examines how locally owned cooperatives have responded to the transition from commodity to identity-preserved grain marketing. Survey results showed locals’ overall commitment to identity-preserved grains was determined more by a cultural receptivity to innovation than by...

Structural changes in the dairy industry such as the adoption of Total Mixed Rations in place of manufactured complete feeds and declines in milk production in the areas served by locals are bringing these cooperatives to a crossroads where they must decide who will be their core customer. The...

At least 12 reasons could propel cooperatives into a greater role in the swine industry; among them, protecting their market share in feed and offering a cooperative alternative to existing marketing channels. Yet, the industry offers a special challenge during the mid-l 990s because structural...

Growth of fruit- and vegetable-processing cooperatives slowed in the late seventies. High-growth cooperatives employed more full-time employees and more headquarters personnel than low-growth ones and organized their operations to minimize the impact of the peak season. The 14 cooperatives that...