DlG—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 22,1984
Co-ops tighten belts & increase margins *
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Net
margins of the nation’s farmer
cooperatives climbed nearly 25
percent (24.2), but business
volume declined 3.6 percent, a U.S.
Department of Agriculture official
1983 BUSINESS VOLUME OF
FARMER COOPERATIVES 1/
Cooperatives Business
handling volume 2/
Number $l,OOO
Commodities
Products marketed:
Beans and peas (dry edible)
Cotton products
Dairy products
Fruits and vegetables
Grain and soybean products
Livestock products
Nuts
Poultry products
Rice
Sugar products
Tobacco
Wool and mohair
Miscellaneous
Total farm products 3/
Supplies purchased:
Building materials
Containers
Farm chemicals
Farm machinery and equipment
Feed
Fertilizer
Meats and groceries
Petroleum products
Seed
Other supplies
Total farm supplies 3/
Related services:
Trucking, cotton ginning,
storage, grinding, locker
plants, miscellaneous 3/
Total business
1/ Preliminary.
2/ Volume excludes intercooperative business.
3/ Adjusted for duplication arising from multiple activities per
formed by many cooperatives.
4/ Charges for services related to marketing or purchasing but not
included in the volume reported for these activities.
NUMBERS, MEMBERSHIPS AND
BUSINESS VOLUME BY STATE II
Headquarters in Memberships
State in State
5 3,311
5 10,166
9 8,125
29 51,535
17 9,042
2 1,982
24 * 10,506
220 109,614
167 149,501
88 69,045
1 458
10 5,985
110 166,997
45 66,499
Connecticut
Delaware
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
1/Prelimmary 3 1 Included in dollar volume ot Maine 4/ Included in dollar
volume of Pennsylvania
- V. x - - - JM&i
CONSTRUCTION
SPECIALISTS IN: - - ■
FARM BUILDINGS - EXCAVATING
MANURE PITS - SEPTIC TANKS
THE "OPEN END” IVANY BLOCKS
Manure Pits with: H <
• POURED WALLS .'O V
• BLOCK WALLS /
• LAGOON SYSTEMS 1 \ %
SjwL •ABOVEGROUND
CSgjP SYSTEMS j
SPECIAL FARM PRICES
DYNAMIC MASONRY
CONTRACTORS
Gordonville, PA
Mike Fisher Larry Herr
(717) 687-6801
After 6 PM, Call (717) 687-7217
reports.
Randall E. Torgerson, ad
ministrator of USDA’s
Agricultural Cooperative Service,
said combined sales were $66.7
billion, compared with $69.2 billion
4,1624/
5,985
Business
Volume $l,OOO
169,381
103,344
197,501
561,269
347 624
3 1
in 1982. Net margins were $1.06
billion, compared with $854 million
in 1982 and $1.4 billion in 1981.
Torgerson said the recovery on
margins reflected improved
management of cooperatives. It
was accomplished through cost
saving initiatives and lower in
terest rates, he said.
Total cooperative business
volume includes marketing
value of products sold; farm
supplies sales of fertilizer,
chemicals, fuels, feed and other
supplies to members and patrons;
and receipts from related services
such as trucking, storage, ginning
and drying.
82,051
1,721,517
16,765,586
4,225,728
16,209,909
4,764,444
826,703
1,006,177
864,721
1,682,481
393,605
29,153
698,159
49,270,234
Torgerson said adjustment in the
number of cooperatives and
memberships reflected general
changes in agriculture.
Cooperative numbers continued
to decline from 6,125 in 1982 to
5,985 in 1983 due to mergers,
consolidations, acquisitions and
liquidations. Memberships of 4.95
million were down 3.6 percent from
5.1 million in 1982. Memberships
are higher than farm numbers
because many farmers belong to
more than one cooperative.
Membership per association
averaged 827, compared with 838
for 1982.
480,725
96,850
1,249,882
363,462
3,593,604
2,836,979
133,242
5,433,639
483,043
1,351,755
15,951,181
Marketing volume, at $49.3
billion, was down 4.1 percent from
the $51.4 billion in 1982.
Dairy is tops
Dairy product business volume
replaced grain and soybean
products as the leading commodity
marketed, a significant change
from previous years. Dairy
volume reached $16.8 billion, up 6.3
percent Grain and soybean
products declined 11.1 percent to
1,468,352
66,689,767
289,781
2,273,983
2,642,054
1,846,825
4/
359,758
977,912
143,787
Total declines
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$16.2 billion. Wool and mohair,
nuts, sugar and poultry volume
increased. The biggest drops in
volume occurred for beans and
peas, down 38.4 percent, and
tobacco, down 32.4 percent.
Farm supply volume was $16.0
billion, a 2.5 percent drop from the
$16.4 billion in 1982.
Though petroleum products
continued to account for the
largest volume among farm
supplies, $5.4 billion, a substantial
switch moved feed ahead of fer
tilizer. Feed sales increased 7.6
percent to $3.6 billion, while fer
tilizer sales dropped 16.7 percent to
$2.8 billion.
Value of other services related to
farm business rose to $1.5 billion, a
5.3 percent increase over the $1.4
billion in 1982.
Leading states
Minnesota and Texas were the
Grange gives scholarships
HARRISBURG Six Grange
members are recipients of student
scholarships provided by the
Pennsylvania State Grange.
Christopher Hower of Nor
thampton, Northampton County
was selected by the State Grange
scholarship board to receive the
Leonard Rhone scholarship, a $3OO
a year grant to a student in good
grange standing to pursue a four
year study at The Pennsylvania
State University. Leonard Rhone
was the third master of the Penn
sylvania State Grange, and the
scholarship was initiated in his
memory.
The following four Grange
members received the Ellis Santee
scholarship, an interest-free loan
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siaTsh
NORTHEAST AGRI SYSTEMS, INC
PO. Box 187
Fltchville, CT 06334
Phone (203)642-7529
leading states in number of
cooperatives, with 670 and 422
respectively.
States with the largest number of
cooperative memberships were
Minnesota, 447,843 and Wisconsin,
318,844.
lowa accounted for the largest
business volume handled by
cooperatives with $5.8 billion.
California was second with $5.4
billion.
Farmer cooperative assets
totaled $28.8 billion, a 1.0 percent
increase from 1982.
Total liabilities dropped from
$17.4 billion in 1982 to $17.3 billion
in 1983.
Net worth, or member and
patron equity, increased 3.3 per
cent, from $11.2 billion to $11.5
billion. The proportion of total
assets financed by equity in
creased from 39.1 to 40.0 percent.
of up to $5OO a year to members of
the Grange and their children:
Ruth Yocum of Claysville,
Washington County; Reta Cox of
Hookstown, Beaver County; Janet
Rudy of Sewickley, Allegheny
County; Luann Kohler of
Rochester, Beaver County; and
Corinne Dunkle of Avella,
Washington County. The Santee
scholarship was established by Dr.
Ellis M. Santee, a country doctor
from Shickshinny, Pa., and an
active member of the Grange.
All scholarships are ad
ministered by the scholarship
board of the Pennsylvania State
Grange. The Grange is a general
rural farm organization with 42,000
members in Pennsylvania.
✓
Z.iSßmri
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Local Representative
DAVID NEWMAN
(717) 299-9905
uatarmg systems
now a division of CTB ln<