Tag: basic cooperative principles

Phil Kenkel

Bill Fitzwater Cooperative Chair, Oklahoma State University

In a recent national project, academic researchers, cooperative managers and members, USDA, agricultural foundations and other stakeholders collaborated to identify the critical issues facing agricultural cooperatives. A two-stage Delphi survey was conducted, followed by expert panel sessions in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The material below summarizes some of the findings from the project.

Market Volantility
Wide spectrums of issues both external and internal to the firm impact the competitiveness, stability …

Phil Kenkel

Bill Fitzwater Cooperative Chair, Oklahoma State University

In a recent national project, academic researchers, cooperative managers and members, USDA, agricultural foundations and other stakeholders collaborated to identify the critical issues facing agricultural cooperatives. A two-stage Delphi survey was conducted, followed by expert panel sessions in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The material below summarizes some of the findings from the project.

Cooperatives are owned and controlled by a diverse set of users. They also operate under a unique …

Phil Kenkel

Bill Fitzwater Cooperative Chair, Oklahoma State University

In a recent national project, academic researchers, cooperative managers and members, USDA, agricultural foundations and other stakeholders collaborated to identify the critical issues facing agricultural cooperatives. A two-stage Delphi survey was conducted, followed by expert panel sessions in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The material below summarizes some of the findings from the project.

The quality and skills of cooperative managers and board members has been considered a critical issue for …

By Phil Kenkel, Vice Chair, Cooperatives CoP and Bill Fitzwater Cooperative Chair, Oklahoma State University, phil.kenkel@okstate.edu.

In a recent national project, academic researchers, cooperative managers and members, USDA, agricultural foundations and other stakeholders collaborated to identify the critical issues facing agricultural cooperatives. A two-stage Delphi survey was conducted, followed by expert panel sessions in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The material below summarizes some of the findings from the project.

During the Critical Issues Pre-Conference of the Farmers Cooperative …

Phil Kenkel

Bill Fitzwater Cooperative Chair, Oklahoma State University

In a recent national project, academic researchers, cooperative managers and members, USDA, agricultural foundations and other stakeholders collaborated to identify the critical issues facing agricultural cooperatives. A two-stage Delphi survey was conducted, followed by expert panel sessions in Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some of the findings from the project are summarized under the topics below.

Project Background

External Issues Facing Cooperatives

Need for Strategic Planning

Challenges for the Board of

Authors: Greg McKee, North Dakota State University, gregory.mckee@ndsu.edu, and Donald Frederick,
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA

In the early 1800s, cooperative businesses appeared on several fronts. In Britain, cooperatives were formed as a tool to deal with the depressed economic and social conditions related to the struggles with Napoleon and industrialization. In the United States, farmers began to process their milk into cheese on a cooperative basis in diverse places such as Goshen, Connecticut, and Lake Mills, Wisconsin.

Writers sometimes trace …

Authors: Greg McKee, North Dakota State University, gregory.mckee@ndsu.edu, and Donald Frederick,
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA

Members are the foundation of the cooperative. They organized it. Their needs are the reason for its existence. Their support, through patronage and capital investment, keeps it economically healthy. And their changing requirements shape the cooperative’s future.

Statutory law and the basic legal documents of a cooperative–articles of incorporation, bylaws and contracts between the cooperative and its members–give the members the tools to control the …

Authors: Greg McKee, North Dakota State University, gregory.mckee@ndsu.edu, and Donald Frederick,
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA

Cooperatives may delay the pass-through of the tax obligation from the cooperative to the patron without jeopardizing single tax treatment of those moneys.

Any patronage-based allocation not meeting the requirements of the Code to be “qualified,” has “nonqualified” status. When a nonqualified allocation is made, the cooperative pays corporate income taxes on the funds retained. The patron has no tax obligation on these funds in …

Authors: Greg McKee, North Dakota State University, gregory.mckee@ndsu.edu, and Donald Frederick,
Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA

The individually owned business is the oldest and most common form. One person owns, controls and conducts the business. Characteristics of individually owned businesses include:

• Control. The owner is responsible for management, makes all the major operational decisions and sets the business policies.

• Capital. The owner supplies the equity and is responsible for all debts.

• Earnings. Profits belong to the owner.

• Taxes. Profits are taxed