Farmers' Cooperative Discontinuances, 1875-1939

Willard Cochrane and R. H. Elsworth

No 330321, USDA Miscellaneous from United States Department of Agriculture

Abstract: Excerpts from the report Summary: Cooperation as an economic technique does not fail as frequently as do the men and women who attempt to use this technique without knowledge of its limitations as well as its many possibilities. Their sins of commission and omission are many. The greatest of these is that they have not mastered the fundamental principles of cooperation nor schooled themselves sufficiently in the application of those principles. Another of their shortcomings is that they have not practiced the art of cooperating sufficiently to acquire a reasonable stock of cooperative experience. Despite the frailties of cooperators it is an established fact that the average length of life for the discontinued associations included in this study was approximately 10 years. The average period of activity for the 10,684 associations of record on the last day of December. 1942, was 20.5 years. The averages for some of the special groups were: Dairy products, including cheese factories, creameries, milk processing, and marketing associations, 27.7 years; grain, dry beans, and rice cooperatives, 26.2 years; livestock shipping associations and terminal-market sales agencies, 18.9 years; fruit, vegetable, and nut associations, 18.4 years; and associations handling wool and mohair, 17.3 years. The average for all marketing associations was 22.5 years. Such records discredit any idea that cooperation is a failure, even though some individuals may fall short. Farmer cooperation is a success and the immediate task is primarily that of orienting all would-be cooperators, whether they wish to market their crops or purchase their supplies through cooperative enterprises.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Financial Economics; Marketing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48
Date: 1943-06
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:usdami:330321

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.330321

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