A record year for farm cooperatives
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Harvest 2012 photo Dan Gunderson
The U.S. Agriculture Department announced this week that farmer owned cooperatives broke sales and income records in 2011.
Net income for all co-ops was up more than 25 percent from 2010, to $5.4 billion, with sales topping $213 billion.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Rising prices for farm commodities and petroleum products drove much of the growth.
Revenue increased nearly across the board; grains, dairy, energy, and supplies such as fertilizer and chemicals.
St. Paul based Cenex Harvest States continues its reign as the largest agricultural cooperative in the country with $36.9 billion in revenue last year.
Minnesota has 13 of the top 100 ag cooperatives in the nation. Only Iowa has more. According to USDA data, fIve of the top 10 earning cooperatives are located in Minnesota.
According to the USDA, across the country, agricultural cooperatives employ 184,000 people.