From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Agricultural cooperative is a cooperative where farmers pool their resources in certain areas. There are two primary types of agricultural cooperatives:

Agricultural supply cooperatives are cooperatives that supply farmers with required inputs for agricultural production including seeds, fertilizers and services.

Examples include:

• United Farmers of Alberta
• Cenex
• Southern States Cooperative

An agricultural marketing cooperative, also known as a farmer's co-op, is a cooperative business owned by farmers, to undertake transformation, packaging, distribution and marketing of produce.

In Canada, the most important cooperative of this kind was the wheat pools. These farmer-owned cooperatives bought and transported grain throughout Western Canada. They replaced the earlier privately and often foreign-owned grain buyers and came to dominate the market in the post-war period. By the 1990s, however most had gone private, and several mergers occurred. Now all the former wheat pools are part of the Viterra corporation.

Former wheat pools include:

• Alberta Wheat Pool
• Manitoba Pool Elevators
• Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
• United Grain Growers

• American Legend Cooperative (mink fur) "Blackglama" brand
• Blue Diamond Growers (almonds)
• Cabot Creamery (dairy)
• Cotton Incorporated (cotton)
• Diamond of California (nuts), formerly a cooperative
• Florida's Natural Growers (citrus fruit)
• Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited (dairy)
• Land O'Lakes (dairy and farm supply)
• Ocean Spray (cranberries and citrus fruit)
• Riceland Foods (rice, soybeans, and wheat)
• Sunkist Growers, Incorporated (citrus fruit)
• Sun-Maid (raisins)
• Sunsweet Growers Incorporated (dried fruit, especially prunes)
• Tillamook County Creamery Association (dairy)
• Lone Star Milk Producers (dairy)

The term should be distinguished from collective farming, in which farmers pool nearly all resources, including labor, land, or produce itself. Some economists consider collective farming to be a type of cooperative farming.

The first agricultural cooperatives were created in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century. They spread later to North America and the other continents. They have become one of the tools of agricultural development in emerging countries.

Also related are farmer's credit unions (and mutual farm insurance societies). They were created in the same periods, with the initial purpose to offer farm loans. Some became universal banks such as Crédit Agricole or Rabobank.