COOPERATIVE 

STATISTICS

2008

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Service Report 69

Cooperative Statistics, 2008 i

ABSTRACT

A survey of 2,473 U.S. farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives ending their business year during 

calendar year 2008 showed a net business volume 

of $191.9 billion with a net income of $4.8 billion. 

These cooperatives had assets totaling $69 billion, 

$46 billion of liabilities, and $23 billion in equity. 

Cooperatives were a major employer in rural areas, 

with 124,000 full-time workers and 54,000 parttime or seasonal employees. Business volume by 

commodity is reported for all cooperatives. Number of cooperatives, cooperative memberships, 

and number of employees are classified according 

to whether the business is a marketing, supply, or 

service cooperative. Trends in cooperative numbers, memberships, employees, business size, sales 

volume, net income, assets, liabilities, and net worth 

are reported. 

Keywords: cooperatives, statistics, business volume, 

employees, memberships, balance sheet, income 

statement, financial ratios.

 

COOPERATIVE STATISTICS, 2008

Katherine C. DeVille

Jacqueline E. Penn

E. Eldon Eversull

Rural Development

U.S. Department of Agriculture

STOP 3256

1400 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, DC 20250 3256

Service Report 69

November 2009

Cover photos clockwise from upper left: Sugar Beet courtesy American Crystal Sugar; Fishermen by Kim 

Libby, courtesy Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative; Produce by Paulette Phlipot/ www.p3images.com; Cornfield, USDA photograph by Stephen Thompson

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on 

the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial 

status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual’s income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center 

at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). 

To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). 

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
ii Cooperative Statistics, 2008
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 iii

PREFACE

Cooperative statistics are collected annually to 

provide information on the progress and trends 

among the Nation’s farmer, rancher, and fishery 

cooperatives. These statistics are used for research, 

technical assistance, education, planning, and public 

policy. The collection, analysis, and dissemination 

of cooperative statistics by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are authorized by 

the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926.

This report provides aggregate information on the 

number, membership, business volume, net income, 

basic balance sheet items, and full-time and parttime and seasonal employees of cooperatives for 

business years ending in calendar year 2008. Cooperatives are classified by principal product marketed and major function. Ethanol cooperatives are 

included as “other product marketing” cooperatives. 

Both gross (includes inter-cooperative business) 

and net (excludes inter-cooperative business) dollar 

volumes are reported.

Statistics for 2008 were compiled on a State and 

national basis. The information was collected from 

individual farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives 

by a mail survey of all organizations identified by 

USDA Rural Development’s Cooperative Programs 

(CP) as farmer, rancher, or fishery cooperatives. Information was requested for the cooperatives’ 2008 

business year. 

CP conducts an annual census to gain accurate 

information for assistance purposes. Information 

obtained from individual cooperatives is combined 

with data from other cooperatives to maintain confidentiality. 

Statistics for all cooperatives were derived by 

estimating data for non-respondents and combining 

this information with respondent data. Data from 

respondents and other sources accounted for 88 percent of the total gross sales of farmer, rancher, and 

fishery cooperatives in 2008. 

CP depends on the cooperative community’s 

response to its annual survey to develop a detailed 

and comprehensive set of statistics on cooperatives. 

The time and effort taken to provide information 

and the timeliness with which it is furnished are 

greatly appreciated.
iv Cooperative Statistics, 2008
Cooperative Statistics, 2008

v

ABSTRACTi

PREFACE iii

HIGHLIGHTS vii

COOPERATIVE STATISTICS, 20081

I–DEFINITION OF A COOPERATIVE1

Classification of Cooperatives1

Organizational Membership Structures1

II–2008 STATISTICS2

Number of Cooperatives3

Memberships4

Employees 11

Business Size 12

Business Volume 12

Balance Sheet 15

Income Statement 17

Selected Financial Ratios 24

APPENDIX TABLES 27

APPENDIX FIGURES 53

CONTENTS
vi Cooperative Statistics, 2008
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 vii

 

 2008 2007 Change

Number of cooperatives 2,473 2,594 -121

Memberships (millions) 2.4 2.5 -0.07

 

Gross business volume (billion $) 191.9 146.6 45.30

Net business volume (billion $) 165.3 127.8 37.49

Net income before taxes (billion $) 4.8 3.8 1.00

Total assets (billion $) 69.1 57.1 11.94

Net worth (billion $) 23.0 20.9 2.04

 

Full-time employees (thousand) 124.4 125.2 -0.73

Part-time and seasonal employees (thousand) 53.8 56.2 -2.45 

HIGHLIGHTS

Table A–Highlights, 2008 

There are 2,473 U.S. farmer, rancher, and fishery 

cooperatives, according to the 2008 survey of marketing, supply, and service cooperatives by USDA 

Rural Development’s Cooperative Programs (CP). 

This was a record sales and income year for 

these cooperatives. The year saw high commodity 

and input prices for the first 10 months, followed 

by significant decline in the last 2 months. Information for this report is collected on a fiscal year basis 

but reported as a calendar year. Seventy percent of 

surveyed cooperatives on a business volume basis 

had their fiscal years (periods used for calculating 

annual financial statements) end in January through 

October, before the general slowdown in the U.S. 

economy. 

o Total gross business volume (includes intercooperative business) handled by cooperatives 

was $191.9 billion; net business (excludes intercooperative business) was $165.3 billion. 

o Total net income was $4.8 billion, which includes inter-cooperative dividends and refunds 

of $863.9 million.

o Cooperative memberships were 2.4 million, 

down 70,000 from 2007.

o Cooperatives employed 124,000 full-time and 

54,000 part-time and seasonal employees. Fulltime employee numbers were about the same as 

2007, while part-time and seasonal employee 

numbers were down 4 percent.

o Gross value of products marketed by cooperatives was $117 billion, with a net value (after 

eliminating duplication from inter-cooperative 

business) of $110 billion. Gross marketings 

were up 25 percent due to increased prices of 

dairy products and grains and oilseeds.

o Gross value of supplies handled by cooperatives 

was $49 billion, with a net value of $38 billion. 

Gross supply sales were up 7 percent, primarily 

due to increasing energy costs and ingredient 

prices for feed.

o Receipts for services related to marketing farm 

products and handling supplies, plus other income, totaled $3.5 billion.

o Cooperatives had $57 billion in combined assets. 

Total assets increased 19 percent, with much 

of this increase from higher inventories due to 

increased grain and oilseed prices and higher 

product prices due to increased energy costs. 

Net assets, after eliminating inter-cooperative 

investments, were $53 billion. Inter-cooperative 

investments included those in CoBank. 

o Total liabilities totaled $36 billion.

o Net worth, or member and patron equity, was 

$21 billion. Member and patron equity financed 

37 percent of total assets, down from 42 percent 

in 2007.
viii Cooperative Statistics, 2008
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 1

Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Katherine C. DeVille, Jacqueline E. Penn, and E. Eldon Eversull, Rural Development

I. COOPERATIVE DEFINITION

USDA Rural Development’s Cooperative Programs (CP) considers four major criteria in identifying farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives:

(1) Membership is limited to persons producing 

agricultural and aquacultural products and to 

associations of such producers;

 

(2) Cooperative members are limited to one vote 

regardless of the amount of stock or membership capital owned; or the cooperative does 

not pay dividends on stock or membership 

capital in excess of 8 percent a year or the 

legal rate in the State, whichever is higher;

(3) Business conducted with non-members may 

not exceed the value of business conducted 

with members; 

(4) The cooperative operates for the mutual interest of members by providing member benefits 

on the basis of patronage.

These criteria may result in larger or smaller 

numbers of farmer, rancher, and fishery cooperatives than found in lists or directories of State agencies or cooperative councils. Year-to-year comparisons with specific commodity groups reflect any 

differences in lists and classifications in State and 

Federal data.

Classification of Cooperatives

CP classifies each cooperative under one of the 

following major functions: marketing, supply, or 

service. For example: fertilizer cooperatives are 

classified as supply cooperatives; wool pools are 

classified as marketing cooperatives; and cotton 

ginning cooperatives are classified as service cooperatives.

Marketing cooperatives derive most of their total 

dollar volume from the sale of members’ products. 

These cooperatives are further classified into 1 of 13 

commodities or commodity groups, depending upon 

which accounts for most of its business volume. CP 

may reclassify a cooperative into a different commodity category if its primary business volume 

changes significantly.

Supply cooperatives derive most of their business volume from the sale of production supplies, 

machinery and equipment, and building materials. 

Many also handle farm, ranch, and home items, 

such as heating oil, lawn and garden supplies and 

equipment, and food.

Service cooperatives provide specialized services related to the business operations of farmers, 

ranchers, or cooperatives, such as cotton ginning, 

trucking, storing, drying, and artificial insemination. 

Cotton ginning cooperatives comprise almost twothirds of all service cooperatives and will often be 

listed separately in this report.

Many cooperatives handle multiple commodities and provide marketing and supply services, as 

well as the facilities and equipment used to perform 

these services. These associations are classified according to the predominant commodity or function, 

as indicated by their business volume.

Organizational Membership Structures

CP further classifies marketing, supply, and 

service cooperatives into three organizational 

structures according to membership. The membership structures used are centralized, federated, and 

mixed.

Centralized

Of the 2,473 cooperatives in 2008, 2,411 were 

centralized organizations, mostly locals with individual farmer, rancher, or fishery members. Centralized cooperatives usually serve a local area or 

community, county, or several counties. Most usu-
2 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Marketing

Supply

Service

Number

Figure 1–Cooperatives in the United States, 

1999-2008

Figure 2–Distribution of Memberships, by Type of 

Cooperative, 2008

Percentages are based on 2.4 million total memberships. 1

Includes dry bean and pea, wool and mohair, rice, sugar, fishery, and other product marketing cooperatives

. 

Nut

0.7%

Other Marketing1

2.3%

Service

5.0%

Fruit & Vegetable

1.0%

Dairy 2.7%

Livestock & Poultry 3.2%

Tobacco 2.7%

Grain & Oilseed

18.7%

Cotton

1.3%

Supply

62.7%

ally perform a limited number of initial 

marketing functions. Most supply sales 

are at the retail level. A few centralized 

cooperatives, principally regionals, operate over multi-state areas and provide 

more vertically integrated services, 

such as processing products, manufacturing feed, or refining petroleum.

Bargaining associations also have 

centralized organizational structures. 

They derive all or most of their business volume from negotiating with 

distributors, processors, and other 

buyers and sellers over price, quantity, 

grade, terms of sale, and other factors 

involved in marketing products. Only 

a few bargain to purchase supplies. 

While the primary function of such 

an association is to bring buyers and 

sellers together to contract for the sale of members’ 

products, many bargaining associations now perform additional functions.

For example, dairy bargaining associations at 

one time only negotiated price. Now, many perform 

additional functions, such as physically handling 

part of the milk for spot sales. They, like other dairy 

marketing cooperatives, represent their members at 

Federal or State milk marketing order hearings.

Federated

The 41 federated cooperatives—two or more 

member associations organized to market products, 

purchase production supplies, or perform bargaining functions—often operate at points quite distant 

from their headquarters. Members are usually local 

cooperatives, although some are interregional associations with regional cooperative members.

Mixed

The 21 mixed cooperatives have 

individual farmer, rancher, and fishery 

members and autonomous cooperative 

members, a combination of centralized 

and federated structures. They serve 

large geographic areas, with members 

in many States, and provide a variety of 

integrated services.

II. 2008 STATISTICS 

Cooperatives’ total net business volume was $165.3 billion in 2008, while 

net income was $4.8 billion. This was a 

record sales and income year for these 

cooperatives. The year saw high commodity and input prices for the first 10 

months, followed by significant decline 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 3

Table 1–Number of cooperatives and memberships, by major business activity, 2008 

Major business 

 activity Cooperatives Memberships

Number Thousands

Bean and pea, dry edible 6 1.5

Cotton 12 32.1

Dairy 147 64.9

Fish 41 5.7

Fruit and vegetable 165 25.0

Grain and oilseed1 585 446.6

Livestock 59 76.4

Nuts 17 15.9

Poultry2 13 0.5

Rice 14 11.7

Sugar3 32 11.1

Tobacco 11 65.3

Wool and mohair 62 10.0

Other marketing4 27 5.5

Total marketing 1,191 772.2

 

Total Supply 1,003 1,500.0

Artificial insemination 13 59.9

Cotton ginning 176 27.1

Other services5 64 30.3

Rice dryers 4 0.2

Storage 7 0.8

Transportation 15 0.5

Total Service 279 118.8

 

Total 2,473 2,390.9

 1

 Cooperatives primarily handling grains and oilseeds, 

excluding cottonseed. 

2

 Cooperatives primarily handling eggs, turkeys, ratite, 

squab, and related products.

3

 Cooperatives primarily handling sugar beets, sugarcane, honey, and related products.

4

 Cooperatives primarily handling forest products, 

hay, hops, seed marketed for growers, nursery stock, 

ethanol, coffee, and other farm products not classified 

separately. Also includes manufactured food products 

and resale items marketed by cooperatives.

5

 Cooperatives primarily providing shipping, trucking, 

storing, and other services.

in the last 2 months. Information for this report is 

collected on a fiscal year (period used for calculating annual financial statements) basis but reported 

as a calendar year. Seventy percent of surveyed 

cooperatives on a business volume basis had their 

fiscal years end in January through October, before 

the general slowdown in the U.S. economy.

There were 2,473 agricultural cooperatives in 

2008, and they had 2.4 million members. Together 

they had $69 billion in assets with $23 billion in 

equity. Cooperatives remained a major employer in 

rural areas, using 124,000 full-time workers.

Number of Cooperatives

The 2008 survey counted 2,473 marketing, supply, and service1

 cooperatives, compared with 2,594 

in 2007. Of the 2,473 cooperatives, 1,191 primarily 

marketed products, 1,003 primarily handled production supplies, and 279 provided services related to 

marketing or purchasing activities (Table 1, Appendix Figure 1). A major presentation difference in 

this report relative to prior ones is the breakout of 

fishery or aquaculture cooperatives in most tables. 

This information was formerly presented as “other 

marketing” cooperatives.

The proportion of marketing, supply, and service 

cooperatives to the total number of cooperatives remained virtually unchanged from 2007. Marketing 

cooperatives comprise about 48 percent of all cooperatives; supply, 41 percent; and service, 11 percent 

of the total (Figure 1 and Appendix Table 1).

There was a net decrease of 121 associations (5 

percent) from 2007 to 2008, largely reflecting a 

continuing trend involving merger, acquisition, or 

dissolution. The largest decrease was 58 supply cooperatives, while grain and oilseed lost 27, service 

declined by 21, and dairy dropped by 14. 

Cooperatives are added to the list, usually following press releases from the cooperative or news 

items, but this is not an easy process and probably 

leads to under-counting. This year, a number of 

potato-handling or bargaining cooperatives that had 

been in existence for several years were added to 

the list. Some cooperatives had been dropped from 

the list earlier but were added back when it was 

found that they were still in operation. Most drops 

occur when two or more cooperatives merge or 

combine their operations. It is much easier to drop 

1 Services include trucking, cotton ginning, storage, crop drying, artificial insemination, livestock 

shipping, and similar services affecting the form, 

quality, or location of products and supplies. They 

do not include credit, electric, telephone, or other 

such services not directly related to marketing or 

supply activities.
4 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 2–Number of cooperatives, by major 

function and State, 2008

 

Supply

Function Marketing & service Total

State Number

Alabama 6 49 55

Arizona 5 4 9

Arkansas 8 31 39

California 77 51 128

Colorado 14 17 31

Florida 26 7 33

Georgia 5 8 13

Hawaii 9 6 15

Idaho 20 10 30

Illinois 87 44 131

Indiana 11 24 35

Iowa 72 44 116

Kansas 72 24 96

Kentucky 9 27 36

Louisiana 11 29 40

Maryland 4 10 14

Massachusetts 3 5 8

Michigan 24 23 47

Minnesota 111 105 216

Mississippi 10 51 61

Missouri 18 43 61

Montana 22 30 52

Nebraska 38 29 67

New Mexico 4 3 7

New York 46 10 56

North Carolina 9 5 14

North Dakota 93 87 180

Ohio 33 16 49

Oklahoma 24 37 61

Oregon 20 13 33

Pennsylvania 29 13 42

South Dakota 46 38 84

Tennessee 7 61 68

Texas 53 153 206

Utah 5 7 12

Virginia 14 39 53

Washington 38 26 64

West Virginia 12 12 24

Wisconsin 44 76 120

Wyoming 5 5 10

Other States1 47 10 57

United States 1,191 1,282 2,473

1

 Includes States with fewer than three cooperatives for any 

function. States with at least three cooperatives were: Alaska, 

5; Connecticut, 5; Delaware, 3; Maine, 22; Maryland, 14; New 

Jersey, 12; South Carolina, 4; and Vermont, 3.

a cooperative from the list than to add one, because 

undelivered mail is usually returned. If a new address is not found, the cooperative is dropped.

Cooperative numbers by marketing, supply, and 

service functions by State are shown in Table 2. 

Minnesota had the most marketing cooperatives 

(111), followed closely by North Dakota (93). Texas 

had the most supply and service cooperatives (153).

Many cooperatives operate branches to better 

serve their members. Most branches are owned; 

others are leased. A number of the branches are formerly independent cooperatives that served a local 

community. For economic or other reasons, many 

were acquired by or merged with other cooperatives 

and are operated as branches from which to serve 

members and patrons at outlying locations. 

Grain and oilseed and supply cooperatives operated over 4,700 branches—1,896 and 2,809, respectively. Grain and oilseed cooperatives averaged 

more than three branches, while supply cooperatives 

averaged just less than three branches per cooperative. 

Memberships

Memberships in marketing, supply, and service 

cooperatives totaled an estimated 2.4 million in 

2008, down 70,000 from 2007 (Table 3). By major 

business activity, 63 percent and 19 percent were 

memberships of supply and grain cooperatives, 

respectively (Appendix Table 2, Figure 2). Dairy 

cooperative memberships were only 3 percent of the 

total, but accounted for 23 percent, or $38 billion, of 

cooperatives’ net business volume in 2008.

Memberships in cooperatives dropped from 3.2 

million in 1999 to 2.4 million in 2008 (Figure 3). 

The long term decline largely reflects the decreasing number of farms, farmers, and ranchers in the 

United States (Appendix Figure 2). Many farmers 

and ranchers are members of more than one cooperative, and each membership is counted. Consequently, the number of memberships has exceeded 

the number of farms, but these numbers appear to 

be converging. Duplication in membership cannot 

be eliminated with current reporting methods. 

Member classification depends on the type of cooperative used and may not be related to the mem-
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 5

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES(continued)

Michigan 13 1.2 761.53 700.71

Minnesota 4 0.2 0.54 0.54

New Jersey 7 0.7 187.62 106.91

New York 9 1.0 68.63 68.63

North Carolina 3 0.1 18.83 18.78

Oregon 11 0.9 586.76 503.45

Pennsylvania 3 0.3 427.31 427.31

Texas 3 0.2 59.90 46.84

Washington 13 3.8 772.84 750.52

Other States 30 3.0 912.36 394.53

Foreign7 0 0.1 223.45 77.98

United States 165 25.3 7,463.80 5,233.09

 

GRAINS AND OILSEEDS8 

California 3 0.4 23.73 23.73

Colorado 8 5.2 247.54 246.91

Idaho 3 0.5 48.53 48.53

Illinois 80 60.5 4,644.51 4,641.36

Indiana 8 6.0 866.25 866.25

Iowa 62 66.6 8,754.35 8,335.54

Kansas 72 83.4 2,955.85 2,945.61

Michigan 3 2.0 151.17 150.54

Minnesota 64 34.8 7,455.61 7,367.42

Mississippi 3 5.1 332.25 329.23

Missouri 12 13.5 1,596.86 1,079.10

Montana 5 1.1 779.84 779.84

Nebraska 31 53.5 4,366.38 4,348.75

North Dakota 79 23.2 3,750.84 3,749.58

Ohio 26 18.1 2,015.75 2,015.12

Oklahoma 21 14.3 310.25 310.25

South Dakota 45 30.6 3,224.40 3,222.93

Texas 31 12.8 788.90 788.90

(continued next page)

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2, and gross and net sales by State, 20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

BEANS AND PEAS, DRY EDIBLE 

United States 6 1.5 202.33 191.27

 

COTTON6

 

Texas 4 22.8 1,268.87 273.02

Other States 8 18.7 1,634.21 162.40

Foreign7 0 0.0 11.62 11.62

United States 12 41.5 2,914.70 447.04 

 

DAIRY 

California 5 1.1 5,999.65 5,850.70

Idaho 3 0.3 445.50 445.50

Illinois 4 2.5 1,786.77 1,779.51

Iowa 5 3.7 1,858.81 1,770.98

Minnesota 25 10.1 3,947.10 3,842.30

New Mexico 4 0.1 790.94 272.58

New York 34 3.7 2,271.56 1,910.46

Pennsylvania 13 2.4 1,383.52 1,224.91

Wisconsin 25 17.4 4,896.30 4,602.36

Other States 29 26.4 16,611.24 15,982.49

Foreign7 0 0.0 135.39 135.39

United States 147 67.9 40,126.78 37,817.18

FISH

Maine 14 627 0.90 0.90

Other States 27 5,038 207.07 207.07

United States 41 5,665 207.97 207.97

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES 

Arizona 4 0.8 85.75 43.23

California 40 11.6 2,540.44 1,749.48

Colorado 3 0.3 2.99 2.99

Florida 18 1.1 807.08 333.44

Hawaii 4 0.1 7.77 7.77

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

1

 Includes centralized and federated cooperatives and those 

with mixed organizational structures. Headquartered in the 

State listed. State factors for sales and membership not collected in 2008; 2007 factors are used on 2008 data to estimate 

state data.

2

 Includes voting farmer-members, but not nonvoting patrons. 

(Duplication in these membership figures occurs because 

many farmers belong to more than one cooperative.) Memberships include members of cooperatives not headquartered in 

the State listed. Totals may not add due to rounding. 

3

 Data covering operations of cooperatives for fiscal years 

ended in 2008. States listed are those with more than two 

cooperatives or where disclosure was not a problem.

4

 Gross business volume includes sales between cooperatives. Gross sales include sales of cooperatives not headquartered in the State listed. Totals may not add due to rounding. 

5

 Net business volume excludes sales between cooperatives. 

Net sales include sales of cooperatives not headquartered in 

the State listed. Totals may not add due to rounding. 

6

 Cotton ginning cooperatives are included as service cooperatives.

7

 Includes memberships, marketing and sales in other countries.

8

 Excludes oilseed meal and oil. Oilseed meal is included in 

feed sales, whereas oil sales are included in other marketing 

sales.
6 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2, and gross and net sales by State, 20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

GRAINS AND OILSEEDS8 (continued)

Washington 16 7.8 649.68 649.68

Other States 13 7.2 3,563.25 3,535.31

Foreign7 0 0.0 787.06 787.06

United States 585 446.5 47,313.00 46,221.64

 

LIVESTOCK 

Kentucky 3 0.2 3.62 3.62

North Dakota 4 0.6 32.29 32.29

West Virginia 3 0.2 3.27 3.27

Wisconsin 16 45.8 417.41 417.41

Other States 33 31.7 2,896.60 2,783.82

United States 59 78.5 3,353.20 3,240.42 

NUT 

California 7 4.1 728.92 728.92

Other States 10 11.5 103.34 103.34

Foreign7 0 0.0 0.00 0.00

United States 17 15.7 832.26 832.26

POULTRY9 

California 3 0.1 203.01 203.01

Other States 10 0.4 1,254.24 1,254.24

United States 13 0.5 1,457.26 1,457.26 

 

RICE 

California 4 0.8 259.95 259.95

Texas 5 0.7 46.43 46.43

Other States 5 10.5 1,088.69 1,088.69

United States 14 12.1 1,395.07 1,395.07 

 

SUGAR10 

Idaho 6 1.7 592.76 8.19

Louisiana 4 1.4 568.50 468.05

Minnesota 3 2.6 1,661.18 1,654.91

Wyoming 4 0.4 37.84 37.84

Other States 15 5.7 2,003.12 1,891.33

Foreign7 0 0.1 31.98 31.98

United States 32 11.9 4,895.37 4,092.29

TOBACCO7

 

Tennessee 6 64.0 5.33 5.33

Other States 5 1.3 129.96 129.96

United States 11 65.3 135.29 135.29 

WOOL AND MOHAIR 

Idaho 3 0.1 0.02 0.02

Montana 13 0.5 0.53 0.53

North Dakota 3 0.3 0.03 0.03

Pennsylvania 11 1.0 0.16 0.16

Virginia 6 0.3 0.02 0.02

West Virginia 9 0.7 0.12 0.12

Other States 17 7.1 4.98 4.98

Foreign7 0 0.1 0.09 0.09

United States 62 9.9 5.95 5.95

 

OTHER MARKETING11 

Florida 3 0.0 33.99 33.99

Minnesota 11 4.4 2,354.96 2,257.14

Other States 13 1.1 4,139.26 3,770.56

United States 27 5.5 6,528.20 6,061.69 

TOTAL MARKETING 

Alabama 6 3.0 304.02 304.02

Alaska 5 3.2 8.38 8.38

Arizona 5 1.3 973.99 893.41

Arkansas 8 12.8 2,102.88 2,044.46

California 77 22.0 10,189.34 9,204.01

Colorado 14 8.5 678.57 677.21

Florida 26 1.9 1,993.24 1,519.60

Georgia 5 8.1 477.87 458.95

Hawaii 9 0.4 8.51 8.51

Idaho 20 5.6 1,206.40 621.35

Illinois 87 66.9 6,536.86 6,526.44

Indiana 11 8.9 1,760.21 1,724.35

Iowa 72 73.7 12,113.15 11,571.29

Kansas 72 85.4 4,341.07 4,330.84

Kentucky 9 3.9 452.24 448.74

Louisiana 11 6.0 1,294.03 1,177.26

Maine 20 1.5 135.39 134.82

Massachusetts 3 0.4 356.74 179.21

Michigan 24 8.3 2,683.08 2,552.65

Minnesota 111 53.3 15,595.31 15,296.02

Mississippi 10 9.6 872.38 848.30

Missouri 18 20.3 5,498.54 4,963.75

Montana 22 1.9 949.94 949.11

Nebraska 38 56.2 5,901.50 5,881.52

New Jersey 11 1.6 259.12 166.64

New Mexico 4 0.4 829.95 311.59

9

 Includes eggs, turkeys, ratite, squab, and related products.

10 Includes sugar, sugarcane, sugar beets, honey, maple syrup, 

molasses, and sorghum.

11 Includes forest products, hay, hops, seed marketed for 

growers, nursery stock, ethanol, coffee, and other marketings 

not classified separately. Also includes manufactured food 

products and resale items marketed by cooperatives.

(Continued)
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 7

TOTAL MARKETING (continued)

New York 46 5.0 2,577.60 2,122.91

North Carolina 9 2.8 383.00 350.70

North Dakota 93 27.3 4,919.97 4,901.13

Ohio 33 26.5 3,620.51 3,580.29

Oklahoma 24 21.9 769.76 769.76

Oregon 20 5.4 2,522.03 2,365.68

Pennsylvania 29 3.7 1,816.26 1,657.65

South Carolina 3 0.7 91.04 80.23

South Dakota 46 32.5 3,866.28 3,848.83

Tennessee 7 66.4 147.96 131.25

Texas 53 40.6 4,137.92 3,754.18

Utah 5 2.7 649.46 634.36

Vermont 3 1.3 501.01 501.01

Virginia 14 3.6 494.02 451.63

Washington 38 13.3 3,463.36 3,427.77

West Virginia 12 1.0 19.13 17.18

Wisconsin 44 64.0 7,095.49 6,375.21

Wyoming 5 0.7 70.69 70.55

Other States 9 3.2 900.60 834.88

Foreign7 0 0.5 1,262.37 1,098.36

United States 1,191 788.3 116,831.18 109,775.97 

 

SUPPLIES PROVIDED 

 

CROP PROTECTANTS12 

Alabama 95.88 78.01

Arkansas 186.96 142.10

California 61.15 38.74

Colorado 47.58 34.27

Florida 112.36 35.03

Georgia 97.74 74.61

Idaho 31.70 12.75

Illinois 634.23 379.59

Indiana 561.63 372.04

Iowa 681.39 456.61

Kansas 328.50 218.64

Kentucky 68.34 35.97

Louisiana 46.61 30.11

Maryland 21.55 12.35

Massachusetts 0.09 0.09

Michigan 48.91 33.03

Minnesota 363.05 359.81

Mississippi 71.66 58.19

Missouri 199.00 120.13

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2, and gross and net sales by State, 20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

CROP PROTECTANTS12 (continued)

Montana 120.41 83.54

Nebraska 485.98 341.69

New York 13.57 3.71

North Dakota 350.84 247.90

Ohio 292.38 162.46

Oklahoma 49.51 34.52

Oregon 186.52 160.65

Pennsylvania 33.56 8.93

South Dakota 379.01 232.46

Tennessee 169.88 95.43

Texas 224.30 95.18

Utah 17.13 9.93

Virginia 30.50 23.05

Washington 286.79 253.82

West Virginia 2.93 2.65

Wisconsin 240.05 168.26

Wyoming 3.15 2.08

Other States 121.16 69.27

Foreign7 36.02 9.05

United States 6,701.99 4,496.61

 

FEED12 

Alabama 96.09 61.56

Arkansas 94.85 81.85

California 353.87 307.82

Colorado 114.66 94.63

Florida 138.68 110.48

Georgia 88.62 71.44

Idaho 103.40 80.83

Illinois 448.35 415.82

Indiana 215.04 189.99

Iowa 1,859.81 1,710.72

Kansas 298.68 272.41

Kentucky 106.41 89.12

Louisiana 124.47 104.80

Maryland 71.60 55.75

Massachusetts 17.42 14.03

Michigan 221.89 194.34

Minnesota 1,211.06 1,080.88

Mississippi 112.05 94.46

Missouri 563.00 430.51

Montana 70.05 46.15

Nebraska 442.86 372.02

New York 96.64 73.43

North Dakota 68.26 63.98

Ohio 353.62 307.39

Oklahoma 140.64 121.86

(continued next page)

12 Headquartered in State and membership values are not collected for individual supply products, rather they are collected 

for total supplies.

(Continued)
8 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2, and gross and net sales by State, 20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

FEED12 (continued)

Oregon 185.16 142.85

Pennsylvania 124.41 93.80

South Dakota 331.97 279.89

Tennessee 276.75 176.36

Texas 468.77 377.10

Utah 153.65 151.90

Virginia 197.93 171.86

Washington 168.09 120.93

West Virginia 38.88 34.35

Wisconsin 863.68 732.65

Wyoming 12.68 11.06

Other States 457.98 381.54

Foreign7 157.12 156.25

United States 10,849.11 9,276.83

FERTILIZER12 

Alabama 109.60 105.69

Arkansas 165.18 150.58

California 218.56 218.56

Colorado 79.15 74.47

Florida 88.97 60.75

Georgia 119.70 107.82

Idaho 13.55 13.54

Illinois 1,265.01 1,013.21

Indiana 538.52 535.62

Iowa 1,326.28 1,068.13

Kansas 465.25 462.15

Kentucky 171.98 140.96

Louisiana 20.50 20.09

Maryland 53.59 42.98

Massachusetts 28.57 15.51

Michigan 83.09 81.66

Minnesota 1,150.90 910.01

Mississippi 34.60 33.84

Missouri 612.00 451.06

Montana 477.16 237.09

Nebraska 1,111.74 856.40

New York 38.87 22.44

North Dakota 388.42 388.42

Ohio 518.59 459.25

Oklahoma 110.74 106.49

Oregon 516.77 276.70

Pennsylvania 88.58 50.06

South Dakota 658.07 418.11

Tennessee 272.82 201.26

Texas 121.56 120.22

Utah 28.66 28.63

Virginia 142.28 115.07

FERTILIZER (continued)

Washington 559.39 318.43

West Virginia 16.05 14.35

Wisconsin 793.57 532.41

Wyoming 8.83 8.77

Other States 277.14 234.08

Foreign7 85.31 45.69

United States 12,759.53 9,940.51

PETROLEUM12, 13 

Alabama 10.36 10.35

Arkansas 175.71 172.34

California 4.59 4.53

Colorado 866.25 471.12

Florida 7.65 5.24

Georgia 569.76 178.46

Idaho 721.39 359.14

Illinois 2,854.49 1,905.97

Indiana 2,146.55 1,256.21

Iowa 2,211.50 1,584.26

Kansas 1,696.83 1,128.97

Kentucky 213.27 148.09

Louisiana 13.57 13.38

Maryland 275.04 243.64

Massachusetts 0.02 0.02

Michigan 732.05 298.89

Minnesota 1,703.66 1,323.58

Mississippi 19.92 17.75

Missouri 2,058.02 1,457.91

Montana 875.39 626.00

Nebraska 1,678.30 1,149.78

New York 8.00 5.49

North Dakota 1,359.62 986.36

Ohio 527.06 413.15

Oklahoma 1,018.06 477.36

Oregon 744.36 454.55

Pennsylvania 13.06 10.06

South Dakota 983.09 593.22

Tennessee 794.58 314.55

Texas 285.45 266.80

Utah 547.17 168.63

Virginia 1,054.98 562.24

Washington 816.28 558.68

West Virginia 73.98 69.74

Wisconsin 1,625.58 1,218.12

Wyoming 650.11 381.87

(Continued)

13 Includes all types of petroleum products and lubricants as 

well as bioenergy fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 9

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2, and gross and net sales by State, 20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

PETROLEUM (continued

Other States 135.34 115.62

Foreign7 796.17 295.21

United States 30,267.20 19,247.27

SEED12 

Alabama 42.94 27.76

Arkansas 69.84 54.08

California 25.68 23.35

Colorado 14.43 9.78

Florida 5.58 4.64

Georgia 22.43 19.41

Idaho 11.87 8.77

Illinois 362.88 240.05

Indiana 131.12 67.30

Iowa 451.88 284.66

Kansas 104.26 66.95

Kentucky 47.58 33.45

Louisiana 24.16 13.86

Maryland 11.33 8.20

Massachusetts 1.07 0.74

Michigan 21.45 14.35

Minnesota 488.44 291.82

Mississippi 41.68 22.73

Missouri 80.91 61.96

Montana 59.99 58.14

Nebraska 201.23 160.91

New York 2.84 1.60

North Dakota 208.77 110.05

Ohio 140.24 90.08

Oklahoma 8.94 7.97

Oregon 73.40 72.13

Pennsylvania 6.28 3.91

South Dakota 274.71 177.73

Tennessee 115.11 76.74

Texas 53.74 38.09

Utah 3.27 2.98

Virginia 35.46 29.88

Washington 85.61 84.25

West Virginia 4.82 4.13

Wisconsin 251.01 175.76

Wyoming 1.97 1.19

Other States 51.09 45.55

Foreign7 1.56 0.75

United States 3,539.55 2,395.71

 

OTHER SUPPLIES12, 14 

Alabama 72.54 69.25

Arkansas 93.64 82.29

California 195.49 190.35

Colorado 79.91 71.97

Florida 43.41 43.23

Georgia 59.94 42.23

Idaho 58.14 48.62

Illinois 739.28 670.32

Indiana 154.70 117.17

Iowa 247.97 232.36

Kansas 106.46 98.53

Kentucky 116.82 85.93

Louisiana 19.25 19.14

Maryland 39.07 31.84

Massachusetts 13.40 11.09

Michigan 113.72 97.54

Minnesota 326.57 308.92

Mississippi 47.76 46.03

Missouri 228.56 173.30

Montana 91.14 86.94

Nebraska 142.91 136.67

New York 31.36 23.72

North Dakota 379.05 372.11

Ohio 102.36 86.68

Oklahoma 54.73 46.86

Oregon 221.26 219.13

Pennsylvania 23.45 16.47

South Dakota 130.50 125.21

Tennessee 436.90 207.43

Texas 116.85 105.58

Utah 105.12 89.52

Virginia 188.28 173.21

Washington 200.64 166.58

West Virginia 34.93 31.65

Wisconsin 413.64 400.38

Wyoming 53.82 51.43

Other States 264.51 209.23

Foreign7 363.88 331.52

United States 6,111.95 5,320.43

 

SUPPLY 

Alabama 44 20.7 427.41 352.63

Arkansas 28 32.2 786.18 683.24

California 15 14.8 859.35 783.35

Colorado 16 20.7 1,201.98 756.25

Florida 6 6.9 396.65 259.38

Georgia 5 0.9 958.19 493.98

(continued next page)

14 Includes building materials, containers and packaging 

supplies, machinery and equipment, meats and groceries, 

automotive supplies, hardware, chicks, and other supplies not 

separately classified.

(Continued)
10 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2, and gross and net sales by State, 20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

SUPPLY (continued)

Idaho 7 10.2 940.03 523.66

Illinois 43 70.6 6,304.24 4,624.95

Indiana 22 28.3 3,747.55 2,538.33

Iowa 44 48.1 6,778.84 5,336.74

Kansas 23 24.2 2,999.97 2,247.64

Kentucky 26 158.4 724.40 533.51

Louisiana 18 5.2 248.56 201.36

Maryland 10 68.5 472.17 394.76

Massachusetts 3 2.3 60.58 41.48

Michigan 20 6.4 1,221.10 719.81

Minnesota 101 80.8 5,243.69 4,275.03

Mississippi 33 73.3 327.67 273.01

Missouri 42 107.1 3,741.49 2,694.87

Montana 30 24.4 1,694.14 1,137.85

Nebraska 27 27.6 4,063.02 3,017.47

New York 6 1.4 191.28 130.39

North Dakota 84 52.3 2,754.97 2,168.82

Ohio 12 12.6 1,934.24 1,519.00

Oklahoma 26 18.9 1,382.61 795.06

Oregon 12 22.5 1,927.46 1,326.01

Pennsylvania 6 2.2 289.35 183.24

South Dakota 38 32.1 2,757.37 1,826.62

Tennessee 60 62.7 2,066.04 1,071.77

Texas 37 27.3 1,270.66 1,002.98

Utah 5 3.5 855.00 451.58

Virginia 36 133.5 1,649.42 1,075.30

Washington 23 10.3 2,116.79 1,502.69

West Virginia 12 78.7 171.58 156.87

Wisconsin 67 74.2 4,187.52 3,227.58

Wyoming 5 3.4 730.56 456.41

Other States 11 115.4 1,307.22 1,055.27

Foreign7 0 1.2 1,440.06 838.47

United States 1,003 1,483.9 70,229.33 50,677.36

SERVICE15 

Alabama 5 0.1 18.48 18.48

Arizona 4 0.2 11.11 11.11

Arkansas 3 1.8 66.73 66.73

California 36 2.1 376.31 376.31

Georgia 3 0.3 14.79 14.79

Hawaii 5 0.2 2.36 2.36

Louisiana 11 0.5 13.39 13.39

SERVICE (continued) 

Michigan 3 1.2 46.28 46.28

Minnesota 4 8.6 338.90 338.90

Mississippi 18 14.0 81.19 81.19

New York 4 0.3 26.64 26.64

North Carolina 3 0.1 5.48 5.48

North Dakota 3 7.7 58.28 58.28

Ohio 4 2.8 129.46 129.46

Oklahoma 11 4.5 38.95 38.95

Pennsylvania 7 0.2 5.21 5.21

Texas 116 19.0 348.03 348.03

Virginia 3 7.3 29.16 29.16

Washington 3 1.6 62.59 62.59

Wisconsin 9 17.4 114.53 114.53

Other States 24 29.0 1,822.95 1,822.95

United States 279 118.7 3,610.82 3,610.82

TOTAL 

Alabama 55 23.8 756.55 680.06

Alaska 5 3.2 112.94 105.74

Arizona 9 1.9 1,045.23 955.86

Arkansas 39 46.8 2,964.83 2,814.84

California 128 39.0 11,434.68 10,439.33

Colorado 31 29.2 1,942.63 1,490.57

Connecticut 5 0.4 405.95 402.29

Delaware 3 42.4 156.29 120.59

Florida 33 19.3 2,480.02 1,878.57

Georgia 13 9.3 1,450.95 974.78

Hawaii 15 0.6 26.64 22.85

Idaho 30 16.1 2,170.13 1,175.20

Illinois 131 137.5 13,390.91 11,689.39

Indiana 35 37.3 5,662.76 4,386.89

Iowa 116 127.9 19,428.18 17,381.48

Kansas 96 109.6 7,588.93 6,778.27

Kentucky 36 164.0 1,182.60 993.36

Louisiana 40 11.7 1,560.09 1,402.18

Maine 22 5.6 202.00 200.40

Maryland 14 69.9 918.49 783.55

Massachusetts 8 3.1 418.23 223.14

Michigan 47 15.9 3,954.92 3,342.97

Minnesota 216 142.6 21,295.43 20,055.30

Mississippi 61 96.9 1,283.28 1,211.28

Missouri 61 128.1 9,476.36 7,939.55

Montana 52 26.3 2,665.91 2,110.70

Nebraska 67 83.8 10,256.36 9,169.87

New Jersey 12 1.6 340.88 221.36

New Mexico 7 0.6 887.12 350.86

New York 56 6.7 2,916.22 2,296.58

North Carolina 14 71.6 921.21 786.74

15 Includes cooperatives providing services such as cotton ginning, livestock shipping, storing, grinding, drying, and artificial 

insemination. Sales include charges for services related to 

marketing or purchasing, but not included in the volume reported for those activities, plus other income.

(Continued)
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 11

Table 3–Number1 of cooperatives, memberships2

, and gross and net sales by State, 

20083

Headquartered Member- Business volume

State in State ships Gross4 Net5

Number Thousands Millions

TOTAL (continued) 

North Dakota 180 87.3 7,799.04 7,180.27

Ohio 49 41.9 5,725.77 5,266.92

Oklahoma 61 45.4 2,209.30 1,615.48

Oregon 33 28.1 4,482.11 3,744.66

Pennsylvania 42 6.1 2,111.61 1,859.58

South Carolina 4 0.9 230.29 202.07

South Dakota 84 70.6 6,766.86 5,822.45

Tennessee 68 130.8 2,250.95 1,244.83

Texas 206 86.9 5,812.63 5,142.46

Utah 12 7.5 1,529.22 1,113.78

Vermont 3 1.3 535.78 535.34

Virginia 53 144.5 2,175.16 1,567.45

Washington 64 25.1 5,658.14 5,029.50

West Virginia 24 79.7 191.14 175.73

Wisconsin 120 155.6 11,471.83 9,788.25

Wyoming 10 4.1 807.66 532.77

Other States 3 0.8 117.81 110.19

Foreign7 0 1.7 2,702.43 1,950.98

United States 2,473 2,390.9 191,874.42 165,267.25

(Continued)

ber’s product(s) marketed or supplies purchased. 

For example, a member may market only one of the 

products handled by the cooperative; another may 

use a cooperative classified in the marketing group 

to purchase one or more supply items. A member’s 

business with the cooperative, therefore, may not be 

in the group that represents the cooperative’s major 

business volume (the criterion for classifying cooperatives in this report). The membership, however, 

will be included arbitrarily in that classification.

During the past decade, memberships in service 

and marketing cooperatives decreased at about 

twice the rate of memberships in supply cooperatives. Memberships in marketing cooperatives 

dropped 511,000 (40 percent) and service cooperatives had a decline of 40,000 (25 percent), while 

memberships in supply cooperatives decreased 

231,000 (13 percent). 

Employees

Cooperatives had an estimated 124,000 full-time 

employees in 2008, a decrease of about 730 from 

2007 (Table 4), but far less than the peak of 176,665 

in 2000. Supply cooperatives had an increase of 

1,200 employees, marketing cooperatives decreased 

1,800, while employee numbers at service cooperatives declined by almost 200. 

Cooperatives employ full-time and, in most 

cases, part-time and seasonal employees to run their 

operations. Their number and type depends on a 

number of factors, such as size of operation, type 

of commodity handled, and involvement in valueadded activities. 

In 2008, cooperatives employed an estimated 

178,000 full-time and part-time and seasonal employees (Table 5), down 2,000 from 2007. Among 

marketing cooperatives, those primarily handling 

fruits and vegetables had the most employees 

(30,000), followed by dairy (27,000), then grains 

and oilseeds (26,000).

By type, marketing cooperatives had 108,000 

full-time and part-time and seasonal employees (61 

percent of total); supply cooperatives had 61,000 

(34 percent); and service cooperatives had 9,000 (5 

percent). 

Figure 4 shows the number of full-time and parttime and seasonal employees by type of cooperative 

for 2008. Supply, fruit and vegetable, dairy, and 

grain and oilseed cooperatives used the most employees; fish cooperatives the fewest. Rice, dairy, 

and cotton cooperatives had the smallest proportion 

of part-time and seasonal employees to total employees. Cotton ginning cooperatives had more than 

half of their employees as part-time and seasonal 

employees, while over 45 percent of employees for 

fruit and vegetable and sugar were part-time and 

seasonal. 

Cooperatives used 54,000 part-time and seasonal 

employees in 2008, down about 2,500, or 4 percent, 

from 2007. Much of the decrease was in fruit and 

vegetable cooperatives. 

In 2008, marketing cooperatives reported 33,000 

part-time and seasonal employees, or 61 percent of 

that type of worker used. Marketing cooperatives 

averaged 28 part-time and seasonal employees per 

cooperative. Fruit and vegetable cooperatives, with 

about 15,000, accounted for about 27 percent of all 

part-time and seasonal employees used by cooperatives. Supply cooperatives had about 17,000 parttime and seasonal employees, an average of 16 per 

cooperative.
12 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400

 Sugar 

 Rice 

 Dairy 

 Fruits and Vegetables 

 Cotton

Supplies 

Grain and Oilseeds

 Other Service 

 Livestock and Poultry 

Cotton Ginning

 Fish 

Number

1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, tobacco, wool and mohair, and other product marketing cooperatives.

Other Marketing1

Full-Time

Part-Time and Seasonal

Figure 5–Average Full-Time and Part-Time and 

 Seasonal Employees, 2008

0

1

2

3

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Million

Service

Supply

Marketing

Figure 3–Cooperative Memberships by Function,

 1999-2008

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Supply

Fruits and Vegetables

Dairy

Grain and Oilseeds

Sugar

Other Service

Cotton Ginning

Livestock and Poultry

Rice

Cotton

Fish

1,000 Employees

1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, tobacco, wool and mohair, and other product marketing cooperatives.

Full-Time

Part-Time and Seasonal

Other Marketing1

Figure 4–Full-Time and Part-Time and Seasonal 

 Employees, by Cooperative Type, 2008

Most types of marketing cooperatives 

operated with more employees than did 

supply cooperatives. For example, sugar 

cooperatives averaged 346 employees; 

rice, 196; fruit and vegetable, 184; 

while supply cooperatives averaged 61 

(Figure 5).

Business Size

Most cooperatives, as measured by 

annual gross business volume, are relatively small and serve local areas. Some 

actively seek regional, national, and 

even international markets to increase 

business volume. Although few in 

number, larger cooperatives account for 

much of cooperatives’ business volume. 

They have grown in size partly from 

mergers, consolidations, and acquisitions. From 2002 to 2008, there were 

969 fewer cooperatives with less than 

$25 million in sales, while there were 

302 cooperatives that moved up into the 

sales group of more than $25 million in 

sales. The sales group of $100 to $199.9 

million had the most growth, increasing 

from 52 cooperatives in 2002 to 176 in 

2008 (Table 6).

In 2008, 57 percent of all cooperatives reported a business volume of less 

than $15 million. However, they accounted for less than 4 percent of the 

total gross dollar volume (Figure 6). 

Less than 6 percent of farmer cooperatives reported a business volume of at 

least $200 million, but they accounted 

for 72 percent of the total sales.

Business Volume

Total gross business volume of the 

2,473 marketing, supply, and service cooperatives for 2008 was $191.9 billion 

(table 7), up 31 percent from $146.5 billion in 2007. Gross business volume fell 

from the record $128 billion in 1996 to 

$112 billion in 2002; however, this has 

not been a steady decline—some years 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 13

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

1 Actual sales were adjusted for price change based on 1991 = 100.

Billion dollars

Actual

Real1

Figure 7–Cooperatives’ Net Business Volume, Actual

 and Adjusted, 1999-2008

Figure 6—Distribution of Cooperatives and Volume, by Size, 2008

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Less than 5.0 5 - 9.9 10 - 14.9 15 - 99.9 100 - 499.9 500 and more

Gross Business Volume (Million Dollars )

Percent

Cooperatives

Dollar Volume

Figure 6–Distribution of Cooperatives and

 Volume, by Size, 2008

saw increases to over $120 billion 

while other years fell to $115 billion 

or less (Appendix Table 3, Appendix 

Figure 4). Much of the volume increase between 2007 and 2008 can be 

attributed to higher grain, oilseed, dairy 

prices, as well as higher energy costs. 

Gross dollar volume of products 

marketed by cooperatives increased 

about $24 billion, from $93 billion in 

2007 to $117 billion in 2008 (25 percent). Dairy cooperatives had a $2.5 

billion increase in sales due to higher 

prices while grain and oilseed cooperatives increased sales $18.5 billion, 

again from higher prices. Gross volume 

of all supplies handled by cooperatives 

was $70 billion, up 42 percent from 

$49 billion in 2007, with the increase 

mainly due to higher energy and ingredient prices. 

Total net business volume of cooperatives in 2008 was $165.3 billion—$110 billion from products marketed, $51 billion from supply sales, 

and $5 billion from services performed 

and other income sources. The total net 

figure, which excludes inter-cooperative business, was up 29 percent from 

$127.8 billion in 2007. The $165.3 

billion was a record net business 

volume—surpassing $127.8 billion in 

2007 by $38 billion (Appendix Table 

4, Appendix Figure 5). There have 

been a number of fluctuations in net business volume. It dropped to around $100 billion in 1999 and 

stayed there except for the current upward trend that 

started in 2003, and really took off due to increased 

grain and oilseed prices and energy costs in 2007 

and 2008. Adjusted for inflation2

 where 1991 = 100, 

net business volume totaled $99 billion in 1999 and 

2

Marketing sales was deflated by the index of producer prices received for “all farm products” (1991 

= 100). Supply sales and service receipts and other 

income were deflated by the index of prices paid by 

farmers for “production items,” excluding interest, 

taxes, and wages (1991 = 100).

increased to $165 billion in 2008 (Figure 7). The 

difference between actual and real net business volume in 2008 was $25 billion. The real net business 

volume was lower than the actual value in 2008 due 

to prices paid for production inputs increasing more 

than prices received for farm products. The index 

for prices received for all farm commodities from 

1999 to 2008 rose 49 points, while the index for 

prices paid for farm production items increased 62 

points, hence the gap between actual and real cooperative net business volume when adjusted by prices 

paid and prices received for farm production. 

Net volume of products marketed increased from 

2007, from $85 billion to $110 billion—an increase 

of 29 percent. Net marketing business volume ac-
14 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Fertilizer

19.6%

Other Supplies

10.5%

Seed

4.7%

Petroleum

38.0%

Crop Protectants

8.9%

Feed 

18.3%

Percentages are based on a total net supply business volume of $50.6 billion. 1 Includes building materials, tires, batteries and accessories, equipment, animal health products, pet food, semen, hardware, food, clothing, and 

other.

1

Figure 9–Relative Importance of Supplies 

 Handled by Cooperatives, 2008

livestock—were up slightly from 83 

percent of marketing sales in 1999 to 

84 percent in 2008 (Figure 10). Dairy 

sales were up $12 billion from 1999 

while grains and oilseeds sales were up 

$29 billion. Net volume among commodity groups was highest in 2008 

for grains and oilseeds with $46 billion ($17 billion in 1999), followed 

by dairy. Grains and oilseeds, dairy, 

rice, and sugar had the highest ever net 

sales.

In the supply group, feed and fertilizer were important farm inputs (Figure 

11) but petroleum was especially important with sales equal to the combined feed and fertilizer amounts. With 

the large price increase of petroleum, 

its share of supply sales increased 

from 27 percent in 1999 to 38 percent 

in 2008. The combination of petroleum, feed, and 

fertilizer sales accounted for 76 percent of cooperatives’ total supply sales in 2008 and 68 percent in 

1999. In 2008, the sales of all major supplies increased and were the highest net sales ever for each 

one. 

Gross and net business volume by State are presented in Table 3. Sales are allocated to the State in 

which the product marketed was originated and the 

farm supplies were sold. Minnesota led all States 

Fish

0.2%

Milk & Milk 

Products

34.5%

Livestock 3.0%

Rice 1.3%

Grain & Oilseed

42.1%

Poultry 1.3%

Cotton

3.0%

Sugar 3.7%

Nut 0.8%

Tobacco 0.1%

Fruit & Vegetable 4.8%

Percentages are based on a total net marketing business volume of $109.1billion. 1 Includes wool and mohair, dry beans and peas, and other product marketing. 

Other Marketing 5.3% 1

Figure 8–Relative Importance of Products 

 Marketed by Cooperatives, 2008

counted for 66 percent of total cooperative sales in 

2008, up 2 points from 2007.

Figure 8 illustrates the leading products marketed 

by cooperatives based on net marketing business 

volume. Grains and oilseeds led with 42 percent, 

followed by dairy (milk and milk products) with 35 

percent, and fruit and vegetable with 5 percent. 

Net supply volume of $51 billion, up 32 percent 

from $38 billion, accounted for 31 percent of the 

total net business volume. The leading production 

goods handled by cooperatives in 

terms of supply net business volume 

were petroleum, 38 percent; fertilizer, 

20 percent; and feed, 18 percent (Figure 9). Petroleum sales increased by 

more than $4 billion over 2007 sales 

while fertilizer, feed, and crop protectants all increased by more than $1 

billion. 

Receipts for services provided by 

marketing, supply, and service cooperatives, plus other income, increased 16 

percent to $4.8 billion. Service receipts 

and other income represented 3 percent 

of total net business volume.

Marketing sales of four major commodity groups—dairy, grains and 

oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, and 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 15

0

10

20

30

40

50

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Grains & Oilseeds

Livestock

Billion dollars

Milk & Milk

Products

Fruits & Vegetables

Figure 10–Cooperatives’ Net Sales of Selected 

 Commodities, 1999-2008

0

5

10

15

20

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Fertilizer

Seed

Billion dollars

Petroleum

Crop Protectants

Feed

Figure 11–Cooperatives’ Net Sales of Selected 

 Supplies, 1999-2008

in total gross and net business volume with $21.3 

billion and $20.1 billion, respectively, followed by 

Iowa with $19.4 billion in gross business and $17.4 

billion in net business volume.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet of a cooperative states its 

financial position at the end of a 12-month fiscal 

year. The balance sheet represents the cooperative’s 

assets, liabilities, member equity, and 

their mutual relationship. Combined 

assets for all cooperatives totaled $69 

billion in 2008, almost $12 billion 

higher than 2007 (Table 8). Total assets 

of cooperatives, excluding inter-cooperative investments, increased by $12 

billion to $65 billion. Cooperatives’ 

total assets grew from $48 billion in 

1999 to $69 billion in 2008 (Appendix 

Table 5 and Figure 12). Most of this 

growth occurred between 2007 and 

2008. Although CP does not collect 

statistics on inventories and receivables, most of the $12 billion in asset 

growth occurred in current assets, of 

which inventory and receivables are 

components. As the financial records of 

cooperatives were analyzed this year, 

it was evident that inventories and receivables remained as high as in 2007, 

especially in grain and oilseed cooperatives, reflecting the large increase in 

prices of grains and oilseeds. 

In 1999, $5.4 billion (11 percent 

of total assets) was invested in other 

cooperatives, including CoBank, and 

this peaked at $5.5 billion in 2002. 

In 2008, these investments were $4.2 

billion, down $1.2 billion from 1999, 

and at 6 percent of total assets, 5 points 

lower than a decade ago. 

Of the $69 billion in total assets, 

marketing cooperatives accounted for 

$43 billion, up $6 billion from 2007. 

Dairy and grain and oilseed cooperatives both had over $12 billion in 

assets, more than 3 times the assets of 

any other type of marketing cooperative, but both 

have less than the more than $22 billion in assets of 

supply cooperatives. 

Table 9 compares common-size balance sheets 

for six sizes of cooperatives (for all types and 

sizes, see Appendix Table 6). Common-size balance sheets present all accounts as a percent of total 

assets, which allows comparison between different 

sizes and types of cooperatives. 
16 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 4–Cooperatives’ number of full-time 

employees, 2008-2004 

 

Commodity 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 

 Thousands

Cotton 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.7

Dairy 23.8 23.6 22.9 24.4 24.0

Fish 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7

Fruits & vegetables 15.7 14.2 13.4 13.5 14.3

Grains & oilseeds 19.7 18.3 17.4 17.6 17.5

Livestock & poultry 2.4 2.3 2.4 1.9 20.6

Rice 2.6 2.6 2.6 2.4 2.5

Sugar 6.0 7.5 6.6 6.8 7.1

Other marketing 2.6 6.1 6.6 6.5 7.1

Total marketing 75.1 76.9 74.3 75.5 95.3

 

Total supply 44.8 43.6 44.4 46.0 49.7

 

Service 4.5 4.7 4.7 3.9 4.4

 

Total 124.4 125.2 123.4 125.4 149.5

Current Assets

Current assets are generally comprised of cash 

and cash equivalents, accounts and notes (with 

short-term maturities) receivable, inventories, and 

prepaid expenses. Current assets were about 65 

percent for all sizes of cooperatives, up from 60 

percent in 2007. Smaller cooperatives, especially 

service, most sugar, ethanol, and cotton ginning 

cooperatives, had smaller levels of current assets. Grain and oilseed, dry bean 

and pea, and larger cooperatives tended 

to have higher levels of current assets.

Investments and Other Assets

Investments were most often in other 

cooperatives and CoBank, while other 

assets is a catch-all account in this 

study and contained a wide variety of 

items. Investments plus other assets 

ranged from 17 percent for small cooperatives down to 14 percent for large 

cooperatives. Investments were larger 

for supply cooperatives than most marketing cooperatives. All but the largest 

supply cooperatives generally purchase 

their inputs from regional supply cooperatives, 

hence the large investments in other cooperatives. 

Large dairy, large fresh fruit and vegetable, service, 

cotton, fish, poultry, nut, tobacco, and large livestock cooperatives all had low investments—often 

less than 4 percent. 

Property, Plant, and Equipment

Net property, plant, and equipment (net PP&E) 

are tangible assets used in the cooperative’s operations. By size, PP&E was between 20 and 28 

percent of total assets. Ethanol, medium sugar, 

small cotton ginning, small fish, small tobacco, and 

service cooperatives all had PP&E of at least 40 

percent of their assets. 

Current Liabilities 

Current liabilities are all obligations that will be 

paid with the use of current assets and will probably 

be paid within 1 year. Current liabilities are comprised of notes payable to banks and/or other trade 

creditors, accounts payable, current maturities of 

long-term debt, income taxes, other accrued liabilities (payroll, property taxes, interest, and other), 

patronage dividends payable, and miscellaneous 

or other current liabilities. Current liabilities were 

at least 31 percent of total assets and grew to 51 

percent for larger cooperatives. Product marketing 

cooperatives tended to have higher levels of current 

liabilities than supply and cotton ginning cooperatives.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Billion dollars

Liabilities

Net Worth

Assets

Figure 12–Cooperatives’ Assets, Liabilities, and Net 

Worth, 1999-2008
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 17

Table 5–Full-time and part-time and seasonal employees of 

cooperatives, by cooperative type, 2008-20071

 

Principal product(s) Total Part-time & 

marketed employees Full-time seasonal

or major function 2008 2007 2008 2007 2008 2007

 

Products marketed Thousands 

Cotton 2.1 2.1 1.7 1.6 0.4 0.5

Dairy 27.2 26.6 23.8 23.6 3.4 3.0

Fish 0.9 0.9 0.7 0.7 0.2 0.2

Fruit and vegetable 30.4 30.7 15.7 14.2 14.7 16.6

Grain and oilseed 26.1 24.2 19.7 18.3 6.4 6.0

Livestock and poultry 3.7 3.5 2.4 2.3 1.3 1.1

Rice 2.7 2.9 2.6 2.6 0.2 0.3

Sugar 11.1 12.0 6.0 7.5 5.1 4.4

Other marketing2 4.0 8.6 2.6 6.1 1.3 2.5

Marketing 108.1 111.6 75.1 76.9 33.0 34.7

 

Supply 61.3 58.6 44.8 43.6 16.5 14.9

Service 8.8 11.3 4.5 4.7 4.3 6.6

Total 178.2 181.4 124.4 125.2 53.8 56.2

1 Totals may not add due to rounding.

2 Includes dry edible bean and pea, nut, tobacco, wool, and other product marketing 

cooperatives.

Total Liabilities 

Total liabilities include current liabilities plus 

long-term liabilities, which are primarily longterm debt. In the aggregate, all types and sizes of 

cooperatives had some long-term debt. Smaller 

cooperatives all had at least 8 percent of their assets 

financed through long-term debt. The largest cooperatives used the most debt, financing 20 percent of 

their assets. Nut, cotton, large fruit and vegetable, 

medium livestock, medium fish, and large and 

medium sugar cooperatives all financed about 20 

percent of their assets with long-term debt. 

Total liabilities were $46 billion, up $10 billion 

from 2007 (Table 10). Cooperatives’ total liabilities grew from $27 billion in 1999 to $46 billion in 

2008. Total liabilities financed 67 percent of total 

assets in 2008, up 4 points from 2007. 

Allocated (or Member) 

Equities 

Allocated (or member) equities represent member ownership of each cooperative. 

Comparing allocated equities 

to total assets determines the 

percent of the cooperative’s 

assets owned by members. Allocated equity comprised just 

23 percent of ownership of 

all sizes of cooperatives. The 

very largest had the smallest 

percentages of both retained 

earnings and overall equity. 

Net worth, or member and 

patron equity, was $23 billion, 

up $2 billion from 2007. The 

proportion of total assets financed by member and patron 

equity was 33 percent, down 

4 points from 2007. Net worth 

for all marketing cooperatives 

totaled $13 billion, up $1 

billion from 2007. Marketing 

cooperatives accounted for 

56 percent of farmer cooperatives’ combined net worth, 

down 2 points from 2007. Net 

worth for supply cooperatives 

totaled $9.5 billion and was 41 percent of the total. 

For marketing cooperatives, the highest percentage of total assets represented by net worth shown 

in Figure 13, 51 percent, was for other marketing 

cooperatives. The lowest, 26 percent, was dairy, cotton, and grain and oilseed cooperatives. 

Income Statement 

The income statement shows the net results of 

a cooperative’s operations. Because most managers’ performance is judged by net income, members 

attach great importance to the income statement. Table 9 presents a common-size income statement for 

all cooperatives, broken out into six different sizes. 

Each item in a common-size income statement is 

represented as a percent of total sales or service. 

Common-size income statements by cooperative 

type and size are presented in Appendix Table 6.
18 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

cooperatives, and 

larger sugar cooperatives have a lower 

COGS. Grain and 

oilseed and most dairy 

cooperatives have a 

COGS in excess of 90 

percent, while large 

livestock and tobacco 

marketing cooperatives that operate 

mainly as auctions 

have a COGS of 99 

percent.

Gross Margin

The excess of net 

sales over the cost 

of goods sold is the 

gross margin or gross 

margin percentage, 

and it is an important operating ratio. 

A small change in 

the gross margin can 

tremendously impact 

net operating margins. A cooperative manager must 

maintain a gross margin near industry averages. 

Thus, least-cost sources of supplies need to be 

developed and marketing cooperatives need to pay 

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Service

Rice

Supply

Fish

Fruit & Vegetable

Livestock & Poultry

Sugar

Dairy

Cotton

Grain & Oilseed

1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, tobacco, wool and mohair, and other product marketing cooperatives.

Percent

Other Marketing1

 Cooperatives Dollar volume Memberships2 

Sales volume Percent Gross3 Percent Number Percent

group (million $) Number of total (million $) of total (1,000) of total

 

 

Less than 5.0 870 35.2 1,731 0.9 291 12.2

 5 - 9.9 338 13.7 2,504 1.3 202 8.4

 10 - 14.9 204 8.2 2,525 1.3 108 4.5

 15 - 24.9 248 10.0 4,915 2.6 176 7.4

 25 - 49.9 307 12.4 10,349 5.4 288 12.1

 50 - 99.9 190 7.7 12,967 6.8 171 7.2

 100 - 199.9 176 7.1 18,622 9.7 377 15.7

 200 - 499.9 88 3.6 22,938 12.0 176 7.4

 500 - 999.9 30 1.2 21,135 11.0 84 3.5

1,000 and more 22 0.9 94,189 49.1 517 21.6

Total4 2,473 100.0 191,874 100.0 2,391 100.0

1

 Business volume includes revenues from marketing plus the value of products bargained for or 

handled on a commission basis, supply sales, service receipts, and other income.

2

 Includes number of farmers, ranchers, and fishermen eligible to vote for directors. Does not include memberships held by other cooperatives, such as local cooperative memberships in regional 

cooperatives.

3

 Includes inter-cooperative business volume. 

4

 Total may not add due to rounding.

Table 6–Cooperatives and memberships, by gross business volume, 

20081

Figure 13–Percentage of Assets Financed by Net

 Worth, by Cooperative Type, 2008

Total (Net) Sales

Total (net) sales are all sales less discounts, 

returns, and allowances from gross sales. Service 

cooperatives do not have a total sales value: the 

first income statement item for these 

cooperatives is service. 

Cost of Goods Sold

Cost of goods sold (COGS) includes 

the beginning inventory plus purchases 

and freight costs, minus purchase 

returns and allowances, purchase discounts, and ending inventory. COGS, 

therefore, was the purchase price of 

the supplies sold or products marketed. 

For all sizes of cooperatives, COGS 

was 91 percent of net sales. COGS can 

be much lower for cooperatives that 

process products or provide technical 

services. Artificial insemination cooperatives, processed fruit and vegetable 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 19

Table 7–Cooperatives’ gross and net business volumes by commodity, 2008 & 20071

 

Commodity Gross volume Net volume

2008 2007 2008 2007 

Products marketed: Billion $ 

Beans & peas 

 (dry edible) .202 .124 .191 .118

Cotton 3.507 3.114 3.332 1.786

Dairy 40.127 37.670 37.817 35.490

Fish .208 .206 .208 .206

Fruits & 

 vegetables 7.464 6.862 5.233 4.293

Grains & 

 oilseeds2 47.313 28.838 46.222 28.349

Livestock 3.353 3.383 3.240 3.215

Nuts .832 .804 .832 .804

Poultry3 1.457 1.360 1.457 1.360

Rice 1.395 1.116 1.395 1.116

Sugar 4.895 4.904 4.092 3.998

Tobacco .135 .105 .135 .105

Wool & mohair .006 .006 .006 .006

Other 

 marketing4 5.936 4.629 5.615 4.506

Total marketing 116.831 93.120 109.776 85.352

 

Supplies purchased: 

Crop protectants 6.702 3.717 4.497 3.140

Feed 10.849 8.645 9.277 7.575

Fertilizer 12.760 7.686 9.941 6.844

Petroleum 30.267 21.616 19.247 14.662

Seed 3.540 2.815 2.396 1.819

Other supplies5 6.112 4.844 5.320 4.255

Total supplies 70.229 49.322 50.677 38.296

 

Services & 

 other income6 4.814 4.133 4.814 4.133

Total business 191.874 146.575 165.267 127.781

1

 Gross includes and net excludes inter-cooperative business. 

Totals may not add due to rounding.

2

 Excludes cottonseed. Cottonseed oil is included in other marketings, whereas cottonseed meal is included in feed.

3

 Includes eggs, turkeys, ratite, squab, and related products.

4

 Includes coffee, forest products, hay, hops, seed marketed 

for growers, nursery stock, ethanol, other farm products not 

separately classified, and sales of products not received directly from member patrons. Also includes manufactured food 

products and resale items marketed by cooperatives.

5

 Includes building materials, containers and packaging 

supplies, machinery and equipment, meats and groceries, 

automotive supplies, hardware, chicks, and other supplies not 

separately classified.

6

 Includes trucking, cotton ginning, storage, grinding, application, locker plants, and other related items. Services include 

charges related to marketing or purchasing, but not included in 

the volume reported for those activities, plus other income and 

extraordinary items.

market rates on the products they purchase.

Cooperatives are often characterized as businesses that provide goods and services “at cost.” However, a cooperative cannot operate at cost on a daily 

basis. Cooperatives need adequate gross margins 

to be profitable and to afford to finance essential 

future-directed discretionary expenditures, such as 

expansion and advertising. 

Gross margin equals net sales less cost of goods 

sold, so cooperatives with higher COGS had lower 

gross margins. The COGS was about four points 

higher for the very largest cooperatives than for the 

other sizes. As discussed earlier in COGS, those 

cooperatives with a low COGS would have high 

gross margins. 

Service and Other Operating Income

Service and other operating income is that derived from any service these cooperatives provided. 

Some cooperatives only provide services, such as 

rice driers, cotton gins, storage and transportation, 

locker plants, pest management and scouting, and 

other miscellaneous services. Service income is important to marketing and supply cooperatives. They 

provide hauling, storage, grading, delivery, custom 

application, record keeping, and drying, to name 

some of the most common. Other operating income 

is generated from sales activities and includes income from providing financing for sales. 

For service cooperatives, service is 100 percent 

on their income statement. By cooperative size, 

service income is the most important for smaller 

cooperatives (15 percent of sales) and diminishes as 

size increases to cooperatives with over $500 million in sales (1 percent of sales). Many of the cotton 

ginning cooperatives have mainly service income 

and limited sales, hence service income ranges from 

19 percent to 63 percent of sales for these cooperatives. 

Operating Expenses

There are only four accounts for expenses in 

Table 9: wages, depreciation, interest, and all other. 

The wage account includes all employee expenses, 

some of which are salaries and wages, payroll taxes, 

employee insurance, unemployment compensation, 

and pension expense. The all other account would 

include administrative expenses, which are over-
20 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 8–Combined assets of cooperatives, 20081

Principal product(s) Assets Investments Investments in

marketed and of own in other Total other co-ops as 

 major function Co-ops2 operations co-ops3 assets percent of total

Products No. Billion $ Percent

 marketed

Cotton 12 1.744 .018 1.761 1.0

Dairy 147 12.315 .181 12.496 1.4

Fruits & 

 vegetables 165 3.998 .104 4.103 2.5

Grains & 

 oilseeds 585 15.957 1.077 17.034 6.3

Livestock & 

 poultry 72 .627 .017 .644 2.6

Rice 14 .693 .003 .696 0.4

Sugar 32 3.023 .091 3.114 2.9

Other 

 marketing4 123 3.062 .050 3.112 1.6

Total 

 marketing 1,191 41.419 1.540 42.960 3.6

 

Total supply 1,003 22.411 2.557 24.968 10.2

 

Service 279 1.048 .093 1.142 8.2

 

Total 2,473 64.879 4.191 69.070 6.1 

1

 Totals may not add due to rounding.

2

 Many cooperatives have multi-product and multi-functional operations. Most are 

classified according to predominant commodity or function as indicated by business 

volume.

3

 Also includes investments in CoBank.

4

 Includes dry edible beans and peas, fish, nuts, tobacco, wool, and other marketing.

head costs associated with a cooperative and indirectly related to revenue production. These include 

professional services, office supplies, telephone, 

meetings and travel, donations, dues and subscriptions, directors’ fees and expense, and annual 

meetings. The all other account would also include 

general expenses, which are directly related to 

revenue production, such as advertising and promotion; auto and truck delivery; insurance; property, 

business and other taxes and licenses; rent and lease 

expenses; plant supplies and repairs; repairs and 

maintenance; utilities; miscellaneous; bad debts; 

and other. 

Wage expenses were the 

highest for smaller cooperatives and fell as cooperative size 

increased, from 12 percent for 

the smallest cooperatives to 3 

percent for the largest. Wage 

expenses were higher for service cooperatives, because they 

are generally small and lack 

other sales to spread out wage 

costs. Artificial insemination 

cooperatives had wage expenses 

that were over 35 percent of 

sales, those of smaller cotton 

ginning cooperatives averaged 

over 19 percent of sales. Dairy, 

grain and oilseed and smaller 

and larger livestock marketing 

(auctions), ethanol, and smaller 

sugar cooperatives had lower 

wage expenses relative to sales.

 Depreciation expenses did 

not change much with cooperative size; their range was just 

over 1 percentage point, ranging 

from 2 percent for the smallest 

cooperatives to 1 percent for 

the largest. Service cooperatives and smaller cotton ginning 

cooperatives had depreciation 

expenses of at least 5 percent of 

sales. Most livestock cooperatives had little PP&E, so depreciation expenses were low: less 

than 1 percent.

Interest expenses were relatively minor for all 

sizes of cooperatives, comprising less than 1 percent 

of total sales. Mixed grain marketing cooperatives 

had some of the highest interest expenses, all averaged in excess of 1 percent of sales.

Other expenses fell as cooperatives grew larger. 

This account is the difference between total expenses and the sum of wages, depreciation and interest, 

so it can be overstated when these three accounts 

are estimated for the few cooperatives that did not 

break out individual expenses on the survey or in 

their annual report. As a result, other expenses in 

this report may be larger than expected. 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 21

Table 9–Common size analysis by cooperative size, 2008

Cooperative sales size All ≥ $500 From $100 to From $15 to From $5 to < $5

 sizes million $500 million $100 million $15 million million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current Assets 65.19 63.59 69.92 64.93 57.40 54.64

Other Assets 7.74 11.34 3.34 3.61 6.68 9.72

Investments 6.04 4.13 6.70 9.53 12.81 7.78

PP&E1 (net) 21.02 20.94 20.04 21.93 23.11 27.86

Total Assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current Liabilities 51.18 49.06 56.91 52.41 39.78 30.78

Total Liabilities 66.82 69.37 69.09 60.62 48.76 41.61

Allocated Equity 22.63 23.26 17.81 24.60 33.64 43.74

Retained Earnings 10.56 7.37 13.10 14.78 17.61 14.56

Total Equity 33.18 30.63 30.91 39.38 51.24 58.39

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of Goods Sold 91.15 92.59 88.83 89.35 87.02 84.59

Gross Margin 8.85 7.41 11.17 10.65 12.98 15.41

 

Service and other income 1.60 0.68 2.08 3.32 7.47 14.66

Gross Revenue 10.46 8.09 13.25 13.97 20.44 30.06

Expenses

Wages 3.86 2.99 4.73 5.24 8.18 11.74

Depreciation 0.87 0.67 1.13 1.16 1.55 2.09

Interest 0.66 0.46 1.11 0.84 0.78 0.81

Other 3.44 2.59 4.27 4.78 7.50 12.57

Total Expenses 8.82 6.70 11.23 12.02 18.01 27.21

 

Net operating margins 1.64 1.39 2.01 1.95 2.43 2.86

Patronage Income 0.46 0.15 0.77 1.10 1.54 1.39

Non-operating income 0.49 0.37 0.80 0.50 0.93 0.25

Net Income Before Taxes 2.59 1.91 3.59 3.55 4.90 4.81

Taxes 0.27 0.19 0.43 0.36 0.24 0.25

Net Income 2.32 1.72 3.16 3.19 4.66 4.56

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.27 1.30 1.23 1.24 1.44 1.78

 

Debt to asset 0.67 0.69 0.69 0.61 0.49 0.42

Debt to equity 2.01 2.26 2.24 1.54 0.95 0.71

Times interest earned 4.93 5.19 4.23 5.22 7.33 6.93

 

Total asset turnover 2.71 3.21 2.16 2.28 1.95 1.48

Fixed asset turnover 12.90 15.31 10.80 10.41 8.42 5.32

 

Gross profit margin 8.85 7.41 11.17 10.65 12.98 15.41

Return on assets 8.80 7.58 10.16 10.02 11.06 8.32

Return on member equity 27.81 23.70 38.35 29.58 26.99 15.43

1

(Property, plant, and equipment)
22 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Table 10–Combined balance sheet data of 

cooperatives, 20081

Principal product(s) 

marketed and Total Total Net 

major function Co-ops assets liabilities worth 

 

Products 

marketed: No. Billion dollars

Cotton 12 1.76 1.29 .47

Dairy 147 12.50 9.12 3.37

Fruits & 

 vegetables 165 4.10 2.68 1.42

Grains & 

 oilseeds 585 17.03 12.58 4.45

Livestock & 

 poultry 72 .64 .42 .22

Rice 14 .70 .42 .28

Sugar 32 3.11 2.08 1.03

Other 

 marketing2 123 3.11 1.53 1.58

Total marketing 1,191 42.96 30.13 12.83

 

Total supply 1,003 24.97 15.45 9.52

 

Service 279 1.14 .50 .64

Total 2,473 69.07 46.08 22.99

 

1

 Totals may not add due to rounding.

2

 Includes dry edible beans and peas, fish, nuts, tobacco, wool, 

cottonseed, and other marketing.

Table 11–Cooperatives’ net income before 

taxes, 20081

 

Principal product(s) Patronmarketed and Income Net age

major before operating infunction Co-ops taxes margins come2

Products No. Million dollars

marketed:

Cotton 12 198.0 197.5 .5

Dairy 147 533.3 505.3 28.0

Fruits & 

 vegetables 165 707.7 701.3 6.5

Grains & 

 oilseeds 585 961.6 689.2 272.4

Livestock & 

 poultry 72 39.7 37.0 2.7

Rice 14 54.6 54.3 .4

Sugar 32 67.6 66.5 1.2

Other 

 marketing2 123 253.1 248.6 4.5

Total marketing 1,191 2,815.6 2,499.5 316.1

 

Total supply 1,003 1,802.7 1,289.7 512.9

 

Service 279 211.7 176.8 34.9

Total 2,473 4,829.9 3,966.0 863.9

 

1

 Adjusted for losses and before taxes. Before tax income used 

in this table because historically, after tax net income was not 

collected. Totals may not add due to rounding.

3

 Includes dry edible beans and peas, fish, nuts, tobacco, wool, 

and other marketing.

Net Operating Margins

Net operating margins is gross margins minus total expenses but before taxes and patronage refunds 

from other cooperatives; so it is income generated 

by the cooperatives’ own operations. Net operating 

margins for all cooperatives in 2008 was $4 billion, 

excluding inter-cooperative dividends and refunds 

(Table 11). 

Net operating margins as a percent of net sales 

was about 2 percent for all cooperatives by size 

(Table 9). Most service cooperatives, artificial 

insemination, large processed and fresh fruit and 

vegetable, and small nut cooperatives had high net 

operating margins. Dairy, rice, tobacco, sugar, and 

livestock marketing cooperatives had low net operating margins. 

Patronage Income

Patronage refunds received, or income from other 

cooperatives, resulted from business with other cooperatives, generally regionals or CoBank, a cooperative bank. The patronage refund from regionals 

was based on business volume and consisted of cash 

refunds and equity stock. Stock was usually revolved back to the local cooperative on a set schedule. Many cooperatives that borrowed funds from 

CoBank received both cash and non-cash patronage 

income. The non-cash patronage from CoBank was 

from investment in the bank, which was usually 

required in proportion to the funds borrowed.

Patronage refunds received from other cooperatives, including CoBank, totaled $864 million, up 

34 percent from $646 million in 2007 (Appendix 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 23

Figure 6). In 1999, refunds from other cooperatives totaled $384 million, or 29 percent of total net 

income. By 2008, refunds had fallen to 18 percent 

of total net income.

Patronage refunds were a little more than 1.4 

percent of sales for the smallest cooperatives, and 

fell to 0.2 percent for the largest (Table 9). Smaller 

cotton ginning cooperatives had patronage refunds 

of over 5 percent of sales. Fish, livestock, poultry, 

tobacco, sugar, wool, and service cooperatives other 

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Billion dollars

1 Includes dividends and patronage refunds from other cooperatives and CoBank.

Net Operating

Margins

Income

From Other

Cooperatives1

Net Income

Before Taxes

0 005 0001 0051 0002

Livestock and Poultry

Rice

Sugar

Cotton

Service

Dairy

Fruits and Vegetables 

Grains and Oilseeds

Supply

Million Dollars

1 Includes dividends and patronage refunds from other cooperatives and CoBank. 2 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, tobacco, wool and mohair, fishery, and other product marketing cooperatives.

Other Marketing2

Net Operating Margins

Income From Other Cooperatives1

Figure 15–Net Income or Loss, by Type of 

 Cooperative, 2008

Figure 14–Cooperatives’ Net Income Before Taxes,

 1999-2008

than cotton ginning had virtually no 

patronage refunds. 

Non-Operating Income

Non-operating income is income not 

generated by sales. It could be interest 

from investments. It also could come 

from the sale of PP&E, rentals, and 

extraordinary items. Sometimes PP&E 

are sold to generate income, but usually they are fully depreciated. When 

sold, if the market value is greater 

than the book value, income is generated. In some cases, disposal of a fully 

depreciated asset may mean a loss. 

Rental income from unused facilities 

or equipment provides income flows. 

Extraordinary items might be either a 

gain or a loss. A gain could result from 

a fire loss where the insurance settlement was greater than the book value. 

A loss might occur from flood damage for which the cooperative had no 

coverage. For all sizes of cooperatives, 

non-operating income averaged less 

than 1 percent of sales.

Net Income Before Taxes

Net income before taxes was a 

record $4.8 billion, an increase of 26 

percent from $3.8 billion in 2007. Net 

income in 2008 was almost four times 

the $1.3 billion of 1999 (Appendix 

Table 7 and Figure 14). 

Marketing cooperatives’ total net 

income of $2.8 billion was up 44 percent from the $2 billion generated in 

2007. Grain and oilseed cooperatives 

increased their net incomes by more than $360 million; fruit and vegetable, $291 million; and dairy, 

$186 million. 

Total net income of supply cooperatives was $1.8 

billion in 2008, up 5 percent from $1.7 billion in 

2007 (Figure 15). This accounted for 37 percent of 

cooperatives’ total net income in 2008, down from 

45 percent in 2007 (Appendix Figure 7). 

Losses totaled $74 million in 2008, a 52-percent 

decrease from the $155 million in losses in 2007. 
24 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Dairy, farm supply, grain and oilseed and poultry 

cooperatives all had losses of over $10 million (Appendix Figure 8). The number of cooperatives with 

losses was down from 263 to 208, a decrease of 21 

percent. 

Income Taxes

Cooperatives paid income taxes on earnings 

not allocated to members (retained earnings) and 

on dividend payments. Each cooperative’s board 

determined what amounts of income were allocated 

to retained earnings and to members. Non-member 

business has an impact on retained earnings because 

cooperatives can allocate the earnings to nonmembers or retain the income. Cooperatives paid $492 

million in income taxes. 

Net Income

Net income after taxes (net operating margins 

plus patronage refunds and non-operating income 

minus taxes) was the highest for smaller cooperatives (4.6 percent) but fell to 1.7 percent for the 

largest cooperatives. Small cotton, cotton ginning, 

hulling, small nut, rice drier, and storage cooperatives all had higher-than-average net incomes while 

dairy, livestock, and sugar marketing cooperatives 

had lower levels of net income relative to sales. 

Selected Financial Ratios

Financial ratios express relationships between 

items in the balance sheet and income statements of 

a business operation. They help in analyzing a cooperative’s economic and financial situation. Ratios 

can indicate problem areas, serve as guidelines for 

planning, and aid in formulating actions. However, 

ratio interpretation is largely subjective.

Nine financial ratios were used to measure cooperative performance or financial conditionthe current ratio, debt to asset, debt to equity, times interest 

earned, total asset turnover, fixed asset turnover, 

gross profit margin, return on assets, and return on 

member equity. 

The formulas for these ratios are:

o	Current = current assets / current liabilities

o Debt to asset = debt / total assets (Please note: 

debt = all liabilities)

o	Debt to equity = (debt / total assets) / (equity / 

total assets)

o	Times interest earned = (NIBT + interest expense) / interest expense (Where NIBT = net 

income before taxes)

o	Total asset turnover = total sales / total assets

o	Fixed asset turnover = total sales / PP&E 

(Where PP&E = net property, plant & equipment)

o	Gross profit margin = gross margin

o	Return on assets before interest and taxes = 

(NIBT + interest expense) / total assets

o	Return on member equity = net income / allocated equity

Liquidity Ratio

 The current ratio is a liquidity ratioa measure 

of the cooperative’s ability to meet short-term obligations. It focuses on the cooperative’s ability to 

remain solvent. However, this ratio does not consider the degree of liquidity of each of the current asset 

components. If the current assets of a cooperative 

were mainly cash, they would be much more liquid 

than if comprised of mainly inventory.

If the ratio is less than one, current liabilities exceed current assets and the cooperative’s liquidity is 

threatened. Improvements can be achieved by selling additional capital stock, borrowing additional 

long-term debt, or disposing of unproductive fixed 

assets and retaining proceeds. Current liabilities 

may also be reduced by retaining a greater portion 

of allocated savings (reducing the cash portion). 

 A high current ratio is a favorable condition financially because it indicates the ability to pay current liabilities from the conversion of current assets 

into cash. Operationally, this same high ratio tends 

to increase operating freedom and reduce the probability of bill-paying difficulty from write-downs of 

accounts receivable or inventory. The current ratios 

of six sizes of cooperatives are shown in Table 9 

(for all types and sizes, see Appendix Table 6). By 

size, the ratio is always less than 1.8, meaning current assets exceed current liabilities by less than 1.8 

times. If needed, these current assets could be sold 

to cover all short-term liabilities and the cooperative 

would still have some liquid assets left. By type, 

the current ratio exceeds two for these cooperatives: 

small artificial insemination, small livestock, tobacco, small transportation, and storage cooperatives. 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 25

Leverage ratios

Leverage ratios look at the long-term solvency 

of the cooperative and help analyze the use of debt 

and the ability to meet obligations in times of crisis. 

Debt to asset ratio shows the proportion of debt 

used to finance assets. Reducing debt, increasing 

savings, or financing a greater portion of assets with 

working capital may improve this ratio. 

Generally, larger cooperatives relied on the use 

of more debt financing. Debt financing was used for 

at least 60 percent of assets owned by cooperatives 

with up to $15 million in sales and rose to 69 percent for the largest cooperatives. Artificial insemination, cotton ginning, small dairy, small livestock, 

service cooperatives, and tobacco marketing cooperatives had the lowest use of debt financing. 

Debt to equity ratio shows the financial flexibility 

and the long-term capital structure of the cooperative. High ratios indicate inadequate borrowing 

power. A low ratio is more favorable and financially 

makes the cooperative more independent of outside 

sources of funds because owners’ equity is available. A low ratio may indicate low return on equity. 

Operationally, a low ratio tends to reduce interest 

cost. Improvement may be gained by disposing of 

unproductive assets and using proceeds to liquidate debt, or accelerating payments on long-term 

loans. Other ways include increasing local equity by 

generating higher levels of net operating margins, 

slowing down equity retirement programs, selling 

additional capital stock, or retaining more allocated 

savings.

As cooperatives’ sizes grew, so did their use of 

debt. The ratio was 0.7 for the smallest cooperatives, and it grew to 2.26 for the largest. Artificial 

insemination, small cotton ginning, small livestock, 

service cooperatives, and tobacco marketing cooperatives all had a ratio of less than 1. 

Times interest earned ratio is the number of times 

interest expense is covered by earnings. A ratio of 

1.0 or more indicates the ability of current earnings 

to pay current interest expenses. Lending institutions are more apt to loan to cooperatives whose 

times interest earned ratio is more than 1.0 because 

it shows their ability to pay interest payments. With 

a ratio greater than 1.0, a lending institution may 

lend funds at lower rates more readily for capital 

improvements. 

Collecting old receivables, improving inventory 

turnover, disposing of assets and reducing debt with 

proceeds, or reducing debt with working capital 

may improve this ratio. Financially, a high ratio 

affects the return on equity and tends to increase it. 

Operationally, a high ratio reduces interest cost.

 Interest coverage was between 7 and 4 for all 

sizes of cooperatives. Some especially high values 

were calculated by cooperative type but these values 

could be influenced by a number of the cooperatives in any particular type not breaking out interest 

expenses in their surveys or on their annual reports. 

Artificial insemination, cotton ginning, and service 

cooperatives had the highest ratios.

Activity Ratios

Activity ratios measure how well cooperatives 

use assets. A low ratio could mean that the cooperative was overcapitalized or carrying too much 

inventory.

A high total asset turnover ratio favorably influences finances through the reduction of financial 

leverage and/or increased return on equity. A high 

ratio tends to reduce interest costs. The ratio grew 

from 1.5 to 3.2 as cooperatives were larger. Dairy, 

livestock, small rice, and small sugar cooperatives 

have a high total asset turnover ratio.

Fixed asset turnover ratio is similar to the total 

asset turnover ratio and shows how well the cooperative used its fixed assets. This ratio by itself might 

not give a complete picture of the cooperative’s 

financial health. A cooperative with fully depreciated assets would have an artificially high ratio. A 

cooperative that invested heavily in PP&E for future 

expansion will have a temporarily low ratio.

 The measure for this ratio may or may not show 

favorable or unfavorable conditions, but merely 

cooperative conditions. An abnormally high ratio 

usually indicates very old, nearly depreciated fixed 

assets or the leasing of property and equipment. 

Financially, a high ratio is influenced favorably by 

increasing asset use, reducing financial leverage, 

and/or increasing return on equity. Operationally, 

it tends to reduce depreciation and interest costs. It 

may also increase costs related to operating leases, 

personnel and travel, or delivery expenses. This 

ratio may be improved by restricting further investments in fixed assets; redesigning production 
26 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

or office facilities to increase the sales-generating 

potential of existing space and equipment; and/or 

selling idle machinery and parts, unused vehicles, 

and unnecessary equipment.

The fixed asset turnover ratio was between 5 and 

15 for all sizes of cooperatives. Dairy, grain and oilseed, livestock, small rice, and small sugar cooperatives all have a high fixed asset turnover ratio. 

Profitability Ratios 

Profitability ratios indicate the efficiency of the 

cooperative’s operations. Because a cooperative is 

owned by its user-members, many common industry 

profitability ratios have little meaning. For instance, 

profitability ratios measuring the return on common 

or preferred stock of similar investor-oriented firms 

are not appropriate because there is seldom an open 

market for cooperative stock. Gross profit margin, 

a profitability ratio, was discussed in the income 

statement so will not be reexamined in this section. 

Return on assets measures the rate of return on 

total investment. This ratio is a measure of performance. It is not sensitive to the leverage position 

of the cooperative. Although some assets were 

financed through debt, the ratio measures return to 

both members and lenders. 

Operationally, a high ratio tends to reduce interest 

cost and financially indicates a comparatively high 

rate of return on assets employed. This ratio rose 

from 8 for the smallest cooperatives to 11 for cooperatives with sales of $5 million to $15 million, 

and then fell to 7.6 for the largest cooperatives. 

It is high for small cotton, large cotton ginning, 

small sugar, rice drier, and hulling cooperatives.

Return on member equity represents members’ 

investment in their cooperative. It is an important 

measure of profitability. This ratio is sensitive to 

the amount of debt capital in the cooperative and is 

best used in conjunction with other measures such 

as the return on assets. Financially, a high ratio is 

favorable and tends to decrease financial leverage. However, a high ratio may also be a symptom 

of insufficient investment. Operationally, a high 

ratio tends to reduce interest cost over time but 

may occur when both total debt and interest costs 

are high. By size, the highest return on member 

equity was over 38 percent for cooperatives with 

$100 million to $500 million in sales. The smallest 

cooperatives have higher proportions of member 

equity and thus a lower ratio of 15. Cotton, cotton 

ginning, middle size dairy, large processed and 

fresh fruit and vegetable, large farm supply, large 

grain and oilseed, large livestock, middle size fish, 

nut, small sugar, rice drier, large transportation, 

and hulling cooperatives have very high returns on 

member equity. 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 27

APPENDIX TABLES

Appendix Table 1–Number of cooperatives by major business activity, 2008-2004 

 

Major business activity 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 

Products marketed: Number

Bean and pea (dry edible) 6 6 6 6 6

Cotton 12 12 13 14 13

Dairy 147 161 172 193 195

Fish 41 45 45 50 49

Fruit and vegetable 165 162 167 188 196

Grain and oilseed1 585 612 642 683 711

Livestock 59 56 48 59 63

Nuts 17 17 17 17 18

Poultry2 13 12 12 14 17

Rice 14 14 15 15 15

Sugar3 32 32 38 47 44

Tobacco 11 11 15 19 19

Wool and mohair 62 63 61 71 74

Other marketing 27 30 29 36 40

Total marketing 1,191 1,233 1,280 1,412 1,460

 

Total supplies 1,003 1,061 1,090 1,128 1,161

 

Total services 279 300 305 356 362

Total business 2,473 2,594 2,675 2,896 2,983

1

 Cooperatives primarily handling grains and oilseeds, excluding cottonseed. 

2

 Cooperatives primarily handling eggs, turkeys, ratite, squab, and related products.

3

 Cooperatives primarily handling sugar beets, sugarcane, honey, and related products.
28 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix Table 2–Cooperative memberships, by major business activity, 2008-2004

 

Major business activity 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 

Products marketed: Thousands

Bean and pea (dry edible) 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.7

Cotton 32.1 41.5 42.7 43.2 43.4

Dairy 64.9 67.1 71.4 60.8 71.6

Fish 5.7 5.9 6.1 7.1 7.0

Fruit and vegetable 25.0 27.9 28.7 29.8 30.6

Grain and oilseed1 446.6 465.9 467.0 479.3 496.1

Livestock 76.4 78.2 82.3 82.9 96.0

Nuts 15.9 15.4 15.4 15.4 14.6

Poultry2 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 3.6

Rice 11.7 12.1 12.2 12.1 12.1

Sugar3 11.1 11.5 11.8 14.8 13.5

Tobacco 65.3 66.2 158.6 160.1 161.1

Wool and mohair 10.0 10.1 9.8 10.5 11.2

Other marketing 5.5 6.1 11.7 21.2 22.6

Total marketing 772.2 809.9 913.7 932.2 978.0

 

Total supplies 1,500.0 1,525.9 1,522.4 1,538.3 1,599.7

 

Total services 118.8 124.1 133.5 101.2 99.6

Total business 2,390.9 2,459.9 2,569.6 2,571.7 2,677.3

1

 Cooperatives primarily handling grains and oilseeds, excluding cottonseed. 

2

 Cooperatives primarily handling eggs, turkeys, ratite, squab, and related products.

3

 Cooperatives primarily handling sugar beets, sugarcane, honey, and related products.
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 29

Appendix Table 3–Cooperatives’ gross business volume, by type of cooperative, 2008-

2004 

Major business activity 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 

Products marketed: Billion $

Beans and peas (dry edible) 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

Cotton 3.5 3.1 3.5 3.5 3.3

Dairy 40.1 37.7 29.0 31.0 30.7

Fish 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2

Fruits and vegetables 7.5 6.9 7.2 7.6 7.7

Grains and oilseeds1 47.3 28.8 21.7 23.0 24.9

Livestock 3.4 3.4 3.4 2.3 3.0

Nuts 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 1.0

Poultry2 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.2 3.5

Rice 1.4 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0

Sugar3 4.9 4.9 3.7 3.5 3.6

Tobacco 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1

Other marketing4 5.9 4.6 4.4 3.9 3.6

Total marketing 116.8 93.1 76.5 78.0 82.7

Supplies purchased: 

Crop protectants 6.7 3.7 3.3 3.3 3.2

Feed 10.8 8.6 7.3 7.0 7.2

Fertilizer 12.8 7.7 6.6 6.4 6.1

Petroleum 30.3 21.6 21.8 16.3 14.6

Seed 3.5 2.8 2.4 2.1 1.9

Other supplies 6.1 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.9

Total supplies 70.2 49.3 45.9 39.3 37.0

 

Services and other income 4.8 4.1 4.1 4.3 3.7

Total business 191.9 146.6 126.5 121.7 123.4

1

 Cooperatives primarily handling grains and oilseeds, excluding cottonseed. 

2

 Cooperatives primarily handling eggs, turkeys, ratite, squab, and related products.

3

 Cooperatives primarily handling sugar beets, sugarcane, honey, and related products.

4

 Includes wool and mohair and other marketing.
30 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix Table 4–Cooperatives’ net business volume, by type of cooperative 2008-2004 

 

Major business activity 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 

Products marketed: Billion $

Beans and peas (dry edible) 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1

Cotton 3.3 1.8 2.1 3.4 3.2

Dairy 37.8 35.5 27.4 28.2 29.1

Fish 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2

Fruits and vegetables 5.2 4.3 5.8 7.3 6.2

Grains and oilseeds1 46.2 28.3 21.4 23.0 24.0

Livestock 3.2 3.2 3.3 2.3 2.3

Nuts 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8 1.0

Poultry2 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.1 3.4

Rice 1.4 1.1 1.1 0.9 0.9

Sugar3 4.1 4.0 2.6 3.4 3.5

Tobacco 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1

Other marketing4 5.6 4.5 4.3 3.7 3.4

Total marketing 109.8 85.4 70.4 74.2 77.2

 

Supplies purchased:

Crop protectants 4.5 3.1 3.0 3.0 2.9

Feed 9.3 7.6 6.3 5.4 5.1

Fertilizer 9.9 6.8 5.9 5.4 5.1

Petroleum 19.2 14.7 15.2 9.8 8.9

Seed 2.4 1.8 1.5 1.3 1.5

Other supplies 5.3 4.3 4.0 3.7 3.4

Total supplies 50.7 38.3 35.9 28.4 27.0

 

Services and other income 4.8 4.1 4.1 3.9 3.7

Total business 165.3 127.8 110.5 106.5 107.9 

1

 Cooperatives primarily handling grains and oilseeds, excluding cottonseed. 

2

 Cooperatives primarily handling eggs, turkeys, ratite, squab, and related products.

3

 Cooperatives primarily handling sugar beets, sugarcane, honey, and related products.

4

 Includes wool and mohair and other marketing.
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 31

 Assets Investments 

 from own in other Total Total Net 

Year operations cooperatives1 assets liabilities worth 

 Billion dollars

1999 42.330 5.352 47.682 27.418 20.263

2000 44.635 5.087 49.722 29.447 20.275

2001 43.285 5.180 48.465 28.317 20.148

2002 41.947 5.539 47.486 27.883 19.602

2003 42.864 4.058 46.922 26.493 20.429

2004 42.356 4.797 47.153 26.766 20.386

2005 42.241 4.337 46.578 27.048 19.530

2006 44.359 3.522 47.882 27.955 19.927

2007 52.965 4.162 57.127 36.178 20.950

2008 64.879 4.191 69.070 46.079 22.990

 

 Percent of total assets 

1999 88.8 11.2 100.0 57.5 42.5

2000 89.8 10.2 100.0 59.2 40.8

2001 89.3 10.7 100.0 58.4 41.6

2002 88.3 11.7 100.0 58.7 41.3

2003 91.4 8.6 100.0 56.5 43.5

2004 89.8 10.2 100.0 56.8 43.2

2005 90.7 9.3 100.0 58.1 41.9

2006 92.6 7.4 100.0 58.4 41.6

2007 92.7 7.3 100.0 63.3 36.7

2008 93.9 6.1 100.0 66.7 33.3

1 Includes investments in other cooperatives and CoBank, where applicable.

Appendix Table 5–Combined balance sheet data for cooperatives, 1998-2007
32 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Type of cooperative Artificial Cotton Cotton

 insemination marketing services

Cooperative sales size ≥ $15 < $15 ≥ $55 < $55 

million million million million all sizes

Balance sheet Percent of total assets 

Current assets 53.06 69.69 83.32 70.33 60.66

Other assets 16.69 6.52 2.44 2.30 8.15

Investments 4.31 10.67 1.00 1.07 8.21

PP&E1 (net) 25.95 13.12 13.23 26.30 22.98

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 28.62 34.46 52.13 45.27 48.58

Total liabilities 41.80 37.89 73.80 61.21 56.86

Allocated equity 34.28 41.29 18.98 24.40 40.93

Retained earnings 23.93 20.82 7.22 14.39 2.21

Total equity 58.20 62.11 26.20 38.79 43.14

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 30.04 35.73 89.80 74.84

Gross margin 69.96 64.27 10.20 25.16

 

Service and other income 20.51 3.95 2.63 0.95 100.00

Gross revenue 90.47 68.22 12.83 26.11 100.00

Expenses

Wages 45.36 36.58 2.46 3.94 25.02

Depreciation 4.28 2.01 0.57 1.42 3.08

Interest 0.57 0.00 1.55 1.05 4.58

Other 31.44 17.73 3.52 5.55 24.44

Total expenses 81.64 56.32 8.10 11.96 57.12

 

Net operating margins 8.82 11.90 4.73 14.15 42.88

Patronage income 0.48 1.06 0.01 0.03 0.46

Non-operating income 0.49 -2.57 0.46 0.15 1.09

Net income before taxes 9.80 10.39 5.21 14.33 44.43

Taxes 1.82 0.71 0.14 0.05 0.10

Net income 7.98 9.68 5.07 14.28 44.33

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.85 2.02 1.60 1.55 1.25

 

Debt to asset 0.42 0.38 0.74 0.61 0.57

Debt to equity 0.72 0.61 2.82 1.58 1.32

Times interest earned 18.13 n/a 4.36 14.67 10.69

Total asset turnover 1.23 1.46 1.97 2.28 0.00

Fixed asset turnover 4.73 11.12 14.89 8.67 0.00

 

Gross profit margin 69.96 64.27 10.20 25.16 0.00

Return on assets 12.73 15.16 13.31 35.06 20.10

Return on member equity 28.59 34.19 52.58 133.47 44.43

1

(Property, plant, and equipment)

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 33

Type of cooperative Cotton ginning

Cooperative sales size ≥ $20 $10 to $5 to $1 to < $1

 million $20 million $10 million $5 million million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets 

Current assets 58.18 49.43 41.80 36.60 41.56

Other assets 2.12 2.27 3.54 9.06 14.45

Investments 15.57 15.73 15.65 6.73 2.28

PP&E1 (net) 24.12 32.57 39.02 47.61 41.70

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 37.00 38.41 32.42 25.70 28.12

Total liabilities 47.25 52.49 43.72 43.97 41.34

Allocated equity 48.76 41.48 49.15 46.94 44.98

Retained earnings 3.99 6.03 7.13 9.09 13.68

Total equity 52.75 47.51 56.28 56.03 58.66

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 91.64 82.14 73.77 77.60 83.98

Gross margin 8.36 17.86 26.23 22.40 16.02

 

Service and other income 19.09 38.68 41.08 48.69 63.39

Gross revenue 27.44 56.54 67.31 71.08 79.40

Expenses

Wages 5.55 12.74 16.36 18.88 30.27

Depreciation 1.33 3.33 5.00 6.23 4.90

Interest 0.35 1.36 1.09 1.85 1.16

Other 10.55 24.68 32.90 37.75 31.06

Total expenses 17.78 42.12 55.36 64.70 67.38

 

Net operating margins 9.67 14.42 11.94 6.38 12.02

Patronage income 2.61 4.90 6.36 5.91 6.53

Non-operating income 0.38 0.75 1.24 1.56 0.22

Net income before taxes 12.66 20.07 19.55 13.84 18.77

Taxes 0.01 0.16 0.04 0.25 0.00

Net income 12.65 19.91 19.51 13.59 18.77

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.57 1.29 1.29 1.42 1.48

 

Debt to asset 0.47 0.52 0.44 0.44 0.41

Debt to equity 0.90 1.10 0.78 0.78 0.70

Times interest earned 37.59 15.78 18.92 8.49 17.25

 

Total asset turnover 2.81 1.40 1.16 0.79 0.59

Fixed asset turnover 11.64 4.31 2.99 1.66 1.40

 

Gross profit margin 8.36 17.86 26.23 22.40 16.02

Return on assets 36.49 30.06 24.04 12.42 11.68

Return on member equity 72.81 67.33 46.24 22.91 24.45

 (continued next page)

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
34 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Dairy and dairy products

Cooperative sales size ≥ $1 $500 million $200 to $50 to $20 to

 billion to $1 billion $500 million $200 million $50 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 57.81 61.90 71.01 68.28 75.34

Other assets 21.49 5.83 0.50 2.04 3.56

Investments 1.16 1.38 2.63 8.00 3.71

PP&E1 (net) 19.54 30.89 25.85 21.69 17.39

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 51.50 49.20 44.65 54.80 69.50

Total liabilities 74.54 64.48 62.52 60.21 75.66

Allocated equity 23.37 29.66 29.71 28.57 21.01

Retained earnings 2.09 5.87 7.77 11.22 3.32

Total equity 25.46 35.52 37.48 39.79 24.34

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 93.40 89.72 91.50 94.78 95.98

Gross margin 6.60 10.28 8.50 5.22 4.02

 

Service and other income 0.25 0.48 0.16 0.67 1.60

Gross revenue 6.85 10.75 8.66 5.89 5.62

Expenses

Wages 3.58 3.31 2.53 2.05 1.33

Depreciation 0.59 0.59 0.79 0.44 0.39

Interest 0.42 0.23 0.35 0.09 0.31

Other 1.64 5.44 2.48 2.58 3.64

Total expenses 6.24 9.57 6.15 5.16 5.67

 

Net operating margins 0.61 1.18 2.51 0.73 -0.05

Patronage income 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.23 -0.01

Non-operating income 0.33 -0.26 0.07 0.04 0.27

Net income before taxes 0.97 0.95 2.61 0.99 0.21

Taxes 0.07 0.04 0.25 0.03 0.00

Net income 0.90 0.91 2.36 0.96 0.21

Ratios Percent or number 

Current 1.12 1.26 1.59 1.25 1.08

 

Debt to asset 0.75 0.64 0.63 0.60 0.76

Debt to equity 2.93 1.82 1.67 1.51 3.11

Times interest earned 3.31 5.03 8.48 11.61 1.68

 

Total asset turnover 3.55 5.82 4.41 6.83 11.96

Fixed asset turnover 18.18 18.85 17.04 31.51 68.78

 

Gross profit margin 6.60 10.28 8.50 5.22 4.02

Return on assets 4.97 6.89 13.05 7.44 6.13

Return on member equity 13.69 17.80 35.03 23.00 11.75
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 35

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Dairy and dairy products

Cooperative sales size $10 to $5 to $1 to Less than

 $20 million $10 million $5 million $1 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 69.09 53.67 63.74 50.47

Other assets 2.22 15.84 9.07 9.12

Investments 16.53 18.86 8.62 19.82

PP&E1 (net) 12.16 11.63 18.56 20.59

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 53.96 43.87 44.94 36.76

Total liabilities 59.49 47.67 54.58 46.13

Allocated equity 29.94 44.40 34.77 58.97

Retained earnings 10.57 7.92 10.65 -5.10

Total equity 40.51 52.33 45.42 53.87

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 95.72 94.01 90.94 83.65

Gross margin 4.28 5.99 9.06 16.35

 

Service and other income 1.97 1.35 3.31 4.55

Gross revenue 6.25 7.33 12.38 20.90

Expenses

Wages 2.60 2.58 3.59 7.41

Depreciation 0.26 0.41 0.68 1.16

Interest 0.15 0.17 0.34 0.84

Other 2.72 3.57 6.34 11.70

Total expenses 5.73 6.73 10.95 21.12

 

Net operating margins 0.52 0.60 1.43 -0.21

Patronage income 0.72 0.59 0.24 0.48

Non-operating income 0.05 0.69 0.05 -0.17

Net income before taxes 1.29 1.88 1.71 0.09

Taxes 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.00

Net income 1.28 1.88 1.70 0.09

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.28 1.22 1.42 1.37

 

Debt to asset 0.59 0.48 0.55 0.46

Debt to equity 1.47 0.91 1.20 0.86

Times interest earned 9.51 12.38 6.02 1.11

 

Total asset turnover 8.09 6.35 5.20 2.01

Fixed asset turnover 66.53 54.62 28.02 9.77

 

Gross profit margin 4.28 5.99 9.06 16.35

Return on assets 11.70 13.01 10.67 1.88

Return on member equity 34.64 26.84 25.40 0.31

(continued next page)
36 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Fruit and vegetable (fresh sales only)

Cooperative sales size ≥ $50 $20 to $10 to $5 to $1 to Less than

million $50 million $20 million $10 million $5 million $1 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 50.02 57.53 59.54 54.99 67.31 65.69

Other assets 12.22 5.23 10.13 6.07 6.70 11.93

Investments 4.10 2.59 3.50 4.01 3.09 1.87

PP&E1 (net) 33.66 34.66 26.83 34.93 22.90 20.51

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 40.07 43.89 46.03 41.06 49.34 39.72

Total liabilities 60.09 58.03 60.15 55.05 68.59 46.38

Allocated equity 21.75 27.60 23.70 33.15 21.25 39.80

Retained earnings 18.17 14.37 16.15 11.80 10.16 13.83

Total equity 39.91 41.97 39.85 44.95 31.41 53.62

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 77.14 77.19 82.78 82.48 80.35 85.99

Gross margin 22.86 22.81 17.22 17.52 19.65 14.01

 

Service and other income 1.72 4.45 3.92 4.80 24.92 5.20

Gross revenue 24.57 27.27 21.14 22.33 44.57 19.22

Expenses

Wages 11.69 11.22 8.94 8.35 17.15 11.04

Depreciation 1.47 1.67 0.97 1.90 2.27 1.22

Interest 0.53 0.67 1.69 0.70 2.58 0.59

Other 9.26 12.12 7.84 9.24 20.36 6.02

Total expenses 22.95 25.68 19.44 20.19 42.36 18.87

 

Net operating margins 1.62 1.59 1.70 2.14 2.21 0.35

Patronage income 0.06 0.09 0.12 0.28 0.20 0.00

Non-operating income 0.36 1.65 0.20 0.86 2.88 0.05

Net income before taxes 2.05 3.33 2.02 3.28 5.29 0.39

Taxes 0.21 0.23 0.05 0.05 0.37 0.00

Net income 1.84 3.09 1.97 3.23 4.92 0.39

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.25 1.31 1.29 1.34 1.36 1.65

 

Debt to asset 0.60 0.58 0.60 0.55 0.69 0.46

Debt to equity 1.51 1.38 1.51 1.22 2.18 0.86

Times interest earned 4.84 5.99 2.19 5.66 3.05 1.67

 

Total asset turnover 2.83 2.69 3.45 1.82 0.92 1.33

Fixed asset turnover 8.39 7.76 12.87 5.22 4.02 6.49

 

Gross profit margin 22.86 22.81 17.22 17.52 19.65 14.01

Return on assets 7.29 10.74 12.81 7.26 7.24 1.31

Return on member equity 23.88 30.14 28.65 17.79 21.27 1.32

 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 37

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Fruit and vegetable (processed and fresh sales)

Cooperative sales size ≥ $500 $250 $50 $10 Less than

 million to $420 million to $150 million to $50 million $6 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 54.06 63.38 78.67 55.09 68.38

Other assets 16.45 2.95 5.11 2.00 12.94

Investments 2.05 1.89 0.48 12.75 2.11

PP&E1 (net) 27.44 31.79 15.74 30.16 16.56

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 38.50 37.22 72.78 46.48 43.01

Total liabilities 67.84 64.47 80.53 58.55 55.91

Allocated equity 29.05 19.28 12.94 38.33 35.95

Retained earnings 3.11 16.25 6.53 3.11 8.14

Total equity 32.16 35.53 19.47 41.45 44.09

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 73.88 73.56 86.98 62.20 84.27

Gross margin 26.12 26.44 13.02 37.80 15.73

 

Service and other income 3.84 0.14 2.25 1.27 7.00

Gross revenue 29.96 26.57 15.27 39.07 22.73

Expenses

Wages 7.90 11.37 4.60 13.98 10.79

Depreciation 2.15 2.34 0.64 2.04 1.08

Interest 0.70 1.83 0.85 1.83 0.84

Other 8.73 3.73 9.13 21.42 7.60

Total expenses 19.47 19.27 15.22 39.26 20.30

 

Net operating margins 10.49 7.30 0.05 -0.19 2.42

Patronage income 0.04 0.04 0.02 1.60 0.07

Non-operating income 0.63 -0.07 0.72 0.31 -0.24

Net income before taxes 11.16 7.27 0.79 1.73 2.26

Taxes 0.15 0.17 -0.02 -0.26 0.03

Net income 11.00 7.10 0.81 1.99 2.23

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.40 1.70 1.08 1.19 1.59

 

Debt to asset 0.68 0.64 0.81 0.59 0.56

Debt to equity 2.11 1.81 4.14 1.41 1.27

Times interest earned 17.04 4.96 1.93 1.95 3.70

 

Total asset turnover 1.91 1.69 1.96 1.16 2.51

Fixed asset turnover 6.96 5.32 12.44 3.83 15.14

 

Gross profit margin 26.12 26.44 13.02 37.80 15.73

Return on assets 22.64 15.40 3.21 4.11 7.76

Return on member equity 72.35 62.30 12.32 5.99 15.55

(continued next page)
38 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Supply (with 100% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size ≥ $500 $300 to $50 to $30 to $25 to $20 to 

million $400 million $100 million $50 million $30 million $25 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 66.46 61.75 58.66 62.24 58.51 55.93

Other assets 15.07 3.41 1.99 2.21 3.66 3.21

Investments 6.80 9.15 14.76 16.83 16.24 17.88

PP&E1 (net) 11.67 25.69 24.59 18.71 21.59 22.98

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 46.23 48.41 40.41 47.65 45.77 39.22

Total liabilities 61.28 63.16 48.70 52.96 55.17 47.67

Allocated equity 20.80 22.52 28.20 29.23 28.10 31.35

Retained earnings 17.92 14.32 23.11 17.81 16.73 20.98

Total equity 38.72 36.84 51.30 47.04 44.83 52.33

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 91.45 89.78 86.17 87.07 85.41 86.50

Gross margin 8.55 10.22 13.83 12.93 14.59 13.50

 

Service and other income 0.35 1.33 2.94 2.23 2.53 3.40

Gross revenue 8.90 11.55 16.77 15.16 17.12 16.90

Expenses

Wages 2.80 5.05 6.68 6.42 7.86 8.22

Depreciation 0.38 0.90 1.22 1.17 1.47 1.50

Interest 0.42 0.72 0.65 0.63 0.80 0.66

Other 2.91 3.09 5.37 4.49 5.67 5.11

Total expenses 6.52 9.77 13.92 12.71 15.80 15.49

 

Net operating margins 2.38 1.78 2.85 2.45 1.32 1.41

Patronage income 0.80 1.25 1.68 2.21 2.28 2.01

Non-operating income 1.51 0.53 0.25 0.08 0.73 1.22

Net income before taxes 4.69 3.55 4.78 4.74 4.33 4.65

Taxes 0.82 0.80 0.86 0.58 0.60 0.80

Net income 3.87 2.75 3.92 4.16 3.73 3.84

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.44 1.28 1.45 1.31 1.28 1.43

 

Debt to asset 0.61 0.63 0.49 0.53 0.55 0.48

Debt to equity 1.58 1.71 0.95 1.13 1.23 0.91

Times interest earned 12.21 5.91 8.37 8.55 6.43 8.02

 

Total asset turnover 3.15 2.51 2.45 2.22 1.98 2.27

Fixed asset turnover 26.98 9.79 9.98 11.86 9.17 9.87

 

Gross profit margin 8.55 10.22 13.83 12.93 14.59 13.50

Return on assets 16.08 10.75 13.32 11.91 10.16 12.04

Return on member equity 58.61 30.69 34.08 31.58 26.31 27.80
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 39

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Supply (with 100% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size $15 to $10 to $5 to $1 to Less than

$20 million $15 million $10 million $5 million $1 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 50.87 58.66 59.83 60.53 60.18

Other assets 4.98 2.46 5.02 6.43 10.89

Investments 20.45 19.36 13.98 13.37 7.77

PP&E1 (net) 23.69 19.51 21.17 19.67 21.15

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 36.23 36.76 36.29 33.32 40.11

Total liabilities 43.47 41.81 42.42 41.69 50.89

Allocated equity 34.06 37.31 34.69 39.47 34.69

Retained earnings 22.47 20.87 22.89 18.83 14.42

Total equity 56.53 58.19 57.58 58.31 49.11

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 85.49 86.96 85.82 85.59 85.48

Gross margin 14.51 13.04 14.18 14.41 14.52

 

Service and other income 2.90 2.35 2.45 3.23 8.73

Gross revenue 17.41 15.39 16.64 17.64 23.26

Expenses

Wages 7.55 7.54 8.71 9.40 16.10

Depreciation 1.48 1.39 1.22 1.34 1.37

Interest 0.56 0.49 0.58 0.61 0.86

Other 5.33 4.60 4.78 5.33 5.21

Total expenses 14.93 14.02 15.28 16.68 23.54

 

Net operating margins 2.49 1.37 1.35 0.96 -0.29

Patronage income 2.87 2.48 1.78 1.47 0.32

Non-operating income 0.72 0.13 0.27 0.19 0.13

Net income before taxes 6.08 3.99 3.41 2.62 0.16

Taxes 0.47 0.40 0.35 0.15 0.03

Net income 5.61 3.59 3.05 2.46 0.14

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.40 1.60 1.65 1.82 1.50

Debt to asset 0.43 0.42 0.42 0.42 0.51

Debt to equity 0.77 0.72 0.74 0.72 1.04

Times interest earned 11.82 9.18 6.92 5.28 1.19

Total asset turnover 1.92 2.16 2.10 1.96 1.76

Fixed asset turnover 8.09 11.07 9.91 9.97 8.30

 

Gross profit margin 14.51 13.04 14.18 14.41 14.52

Return on assets 12.72 9.67 8.35 6.33 1.80

Return on member equity 31.55 20.78 18.47 12.24 0.70

(continued next page)
40 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Mixed supply (with 99% to 50% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size $200 to $100 to $50 to $30 to

$800 million $200 million $100 million $50 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 73.80 67.53 65.98 62.63

Other assets 1.25 3.25 1.78 5.77

Investments 9.58 11.37 13.99 11.48

PP&E1 (net) 15.37 17.86 18.24 20.12

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 61.27 55.18 54.46 48.28

Total liabilities 69.51 64.55 62.94 56.99

Allocated equity 16.38 17.81 21.10 27.45

Retained earnings 14.11 17.63 15.95 15.56

Total equity 30.49 35.45 37.06 43.01

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 89.61 88.70 88.62 87.37

Gross margin 10.39 11.30 11.38 12.63

 

Service and other income 2.49 2.35 3.44 3.00

Gross revenue 12.88 13.65 14.82 15.63

Expenses

Wages 5.33 5.29 6.12 7.81

Depreciation 1.02 1.16 1.24 1.48

Interest 0.98 0.89 0.86 0.98

Other 3.60 4.73 5.06 4.51

Total expenses 10.93 12.07 13.27 14.77

 

Net operating margins 1.95 1.57 1.55 0.85

Patronage income 1.27 1.68 1.91 1.66

Non-operating income 0.62 0.31 0.29 0.69

Net income before taxes 3.85 3.57 3.75 3.21

Taxes 0.68 0.65 0.65 0.37

Net income 3.17 2.91 3.10 2.83

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.20 1.22 1.21 1.30

 

Debt to asset 0.70 0.65 0.63 0.57

Debt to equity 2.28 1.82 1.70 1.33

Times interest earned 4.94 5.03 5.38 4.28

 

Total asset turnover 2.28 2.44 2.20 1.87

Fixed asset turnover 14.86 13.64 12.06 9.30

 

Gross profit margin 10.39 11.30 11.38 12.63

Return on assets 11.02 10.85 10.13 7.84

Return on member equity 44.18 39.86 32.33 19.32
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 41

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Mixed supply (with 99% to 50% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size $20 to $10 to $5 to Less than

$30 million $20 million $10 million $5 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 60.89 62.63 58.02 48.63

Other assets 3.18 2.82 3.88 12.49

Investments 16.01 13.45 14.51 11.79

PP&E1 (net) 19.92 21.09 23.59 27.09

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 44.99 68.86 35.32 29.68

Total liabilities 51.06 51.19 42.46 37.39

Allocated equity 31.59 27.91 34.86 46.53

Retained earnings 17.34 20.90 22.69 16.08

Total equity 48.94 48.81 57.54 62.61

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 88.85 87.45 88.11 87.09

Gross margin 11.15 12.55 11.89 12.91

 

Service and other income 3.62 3.80 3.80 5.31

Gross revenue 14.77 16.35 15.69 18.22

Expenses

Wages 5.81 7.22 7.20 9.74

Depreciation 1.24 1.39 1.47 1.41

Interest 0.65 0.61 0.61 0.64

Other 4.66 5.47 5.34 5.65

Total expenses 12.36 14.69 14.61 17.43

 

Net operating margins 2.41 1.66 1.08 0.79

Patronage income 1.95 1.44 1.73 0.79

Non-operating income 0.69 0.40 0.38 0.16

Net income before taxes 5.05 3.50 3.19 1.74

Taxes 0.37 0.36 0.36 0.10

Net income 4.68 3.14 2.83 1.65

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.35 0.91 1.64 1.64

Debt to asset 0.51 0.51 0.42 0.37

Debt to equity 1.04 1.05 0.74 0.60

Times interest earned 8.79 6.71 6.20 3.74

Total asset turnover 2.17 2.17 2.42 1.89

Fixed asset turnover 10.88 10.31 10.25 6.98

 

Gross profit margin 11.15 12.55 11.89 12.91

Return on assets 12.35 8.95 9.20 4.50

Return on member equity 32.10 24.44 19.64 6.68

(continued next page)
42 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Type of cooperative Mixed grain and oilseed marketing (with 49% to 25% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size $225 to $100 to $50 to $30 to

$750 million $225 million $100 million $50 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 76.94 70.98 71.63 73.36

Other assets 1.12 7.85 1.46 2.10

Investments 8.48 7.07 8.47 8.18

PP&E1 (net) 13.45 14.11 18.44 16.35

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 66.53 61.46 61.86 61.56

Total liabilities 76.84 74.81 71.34 67.46

Allocated equity 12.88 13.81 17.37 21.31

Retained earnings 10.28 11.38 11.29 11.23

Total equity 23.16 25.19 28.66 32.54

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 92.51 92.23 92.24 92.35

Gross margin 7.49 7.77 7.76 7.65

 

Service and other income 2.72 3.57 3.17 3.40

Gross revenue 10.21 11.35 10.93 11.04

Expenses

Wages 3.40 3.83 3.88 4.04

Depreciation 0.96 0.98 1.07 1.14

Interest 1.41 1.59 1.10 1.15

Other 3.08 3.65 3.46 3.67

Total expenses 8.85 10.05 9.51 10.01

 

Net operating margins 1.36 1.30 1.42 1.04

Patronage income 0.91 0.99 1.05 1.08

Non-operating income 0.78 0.77 0.24 0.74

Net income before taxes 3.06 3.06 2.71 2.86

Taxes 0.26 0.39 0.32 0.25

Net income 2.79 2.67 2.39 2.61

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.16 1.15 1.16 1.19

 

Debt to asset 0.77 0.75 0.71 0.67

Debt to equity 3.32 2.97 2.49 2.07

Times interest earned 3.17 2.92 3.47 3.48

 

Total asset turnover 1.96 1.97 2.28 2.08

Fixed asset turnover 14.55 13.93 12.39 12.70

 

Gross profit margin 7.49 7.77 7.76 7.65

Return on assets 8.74 9.15 8.70 8.33

Return on member equity 42.46 38.01 31.49 25.42

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 43

Type of cooperative Mixed grain and oilseed marketing (with 49% to 25% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size $20 to $15 to $10 to $5 to Less than

$30 million $20 million $15 million $10 million $5 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 70.28 69.04 66.56 68.76 60.91

Other assets 4.93 6.88 5.88 7.80 12.12

Investments 7.57 6.32 6.92 4.36 5.62

PP&E1 (net) 17.21 17.76 20.63 19.08 21.34

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 58.70 53.60 50.11 49.06 43.08

Total liabilities 65.16 60.86 60.01 56.65 53.48

Allocated equity 23.33 23.47 20.31 28.42 28.28

Retained earnings 11.51 15.67 19.68 14.92 18.24

Total equity 34.84 39.14 39.99 43.35 46.52

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 92.34 92.79 92.48 92.32 90.44

Gross margin 7.66 7.21 7.52 7.68 9.56

 

Service and other income 3.06 3.27 3.35 3.58 5.54

Gross revenue 10.72 10.48 10.87 11.26 15.10

Expenses

Wages 3.98 4.06 4.46 4.74 7.40

Depreciation 1.11 1.11 1.26 1.23 1.45

Interest 0.86 0.97 0.56 0.58 0.63

Other 3.48 3.55 3.72 3.72 4.59

Total expenses 9.42 9.70 10.00 10.27 14.06

 

Net operating margins 1.31 0.78 0.87 0.98 1.04

Patronage income 0.79 0.71 0.49 0.42 0.22

Non-operating income 0.65 1.16 0.43 0.07 0.10

Net income before taxes 2.75 2.65 1.79 1.47 1.36

Taxes 0.24 0.27 0.08 0.03 0.04

Net income 2.51 2.37 1.71 1.44 1.31

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.20 1.29 1.33 1.40 1.41

Debt to asset 0.65 0.61 0.60 0.57 0.53

Debt to equity 1.87 1.55 1.50 1.31 1.15

Times interest earned 4.21 3.73 4.20 3.52 3.15

 

Total asset turnover 2.32 2.35 2.64 2.34 1.83

Fixed asset turnover 13.50 13.23 12.79 12.25 8.57

 

Gross profit margin 7.66 7.21 7.52 7.68 9.56

Return on assets 8.38 8.49 6.20 4.81 3.63

Return on member equity 25.03 23.76 22.17 11.84 8.50

(continued next page)

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
44 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Grain and oilseed marketing (with less than 25% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size ≥$300 $100 $50 $30 

million to $300 million to $100 million to $50 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 73.65 74.74 72.67 70.01

Other assets 4.79 2.70 6.16 2.73

Investments 3.64 5.88 4.56 4.08

PP&E1 (net) 17.91 16.68 16.61 23.18

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 63.35 65.59 63.14 58.32

Total liabilities 77.40 74.93 72.49 68.22

Allocated equity 11.54 14.74 17.21 18.69

Retained earnings 11.06 10.33 10.30 13.09

Total equity 22.60 25.07 27.51 31.78

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 92.07 94.02 94.51 94.96

Gross margin 7.93 5.98 5.49 5.04

 

Service and other income 2.16 2.11 2.32 2.60

Gross revenue 10.09 8.09 7.82 7.64

Expenses

Wages 3.32 2.22 2.44 2.01

Depreciation 0.96 0.80 0.82 0.78

Interest 1.21 1.22 1.12 0.86

Other 3.29 2.28 2.33 2.65

Total expenses 8.79 6.53 6.71 6.30

 

Net operating margins 1.31 1.57 1.11 1.34

Patronage income 0.57 0.69 0.43 0.36

Non-operating income 0.61 0.27 0.49 0.20

Net income before taxes 2.48 2.53 2.03 1.89

Taxes 0.34 0.41 0.21 0.16

Net income 2.14 2.12 1.81 1.73

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.16 1.14 1.15 1.20

Debt to asset 0.77 0.75 0.72 0.68

Debt to equity 3.42 2.99 2.64 2.15

Times interest earned 3.05 3.07 2.81 3.21

 

Total asset turnover 2.01 2.20 2.39 2.55

Fixed asset turnover 11.20 13.21 14.38 10.99

 

Gross profit margin 7.93 5.98 5.49 5.04

Return on assets 7.41 8.26 7.51 6.99

Return on member equity 37.22 31.70 25.16 23.60
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 45

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Grain and oilseed marketing (with less than 25% supply sales)

Cooperative sales size $20 to $15 to $10 to $5 to Less than

$30 million $20 million $15 million $10 million $5 million

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 75.23 76.08 72.12 64.07 65.89

Other assets 1.82 2.04 1.84 6.71 7.81

Investments 4.32 5.48 5.82 5.10 2.75

PP&E1 (net) 18.63 16.41 20.22 24.12 23.55

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 64.61 62.26 54.17 47.22 47.97

Total liabilities 72.87 67.95 59.74 56.72 58.27

Allocated equity 12.37 19.40 22.36 23.71 29.79

Retained earnings 14.76 12.65 17.90 19.56 11.94

Total equity 27.13 32.05 40.26 43.28 41.73

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 93.47 94.48 94.54 93.25 90.80

Gross margin 6.53 5.52 5.46 6.75 9.20

 

Service and other income 2.19 2.59 2.69 3.26 6.62

Gross revenue 8.71 8.10 8.16 10.01 15.82

Expenses

Wages 2.23 2.22 2.64 3.21 5.84

Depreciation 0.94 0.86 0.81 1.12 1.44

Interest 1.03 0.94 0.67 0.74 0.79

Other 1.89 2.22 2.75 3.71 6.17

Total expenses 6.08 6.24 6.87 8.79 14.24

 

Net operating margins 2.63 1.87 1.29 1.22 1.58

Patronage income 0.26 0.36 0.68 0.24 0.18

Non-operating income 0.39 0.28 0.31 0.42 0.06

Net income before taxes 3.28 2.51 2.27 1.88 1.82

Taxes 0.24 0.09 0.11 0.10 0.01

Net income 3.04 2.42 2.17 1.78 1.81

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.16 1.22 1.33 1.36 1.37

Debt to asset 0.73 0.68 0.60 0.57 0.58

Debt to equity 2.69 2.12 1.48 1.31 1.40

Times interest earned 4.20 3.66 4.39 3.52 3.31

 

Total asset turnover 2.35 2.47 3.07 2.69 2.11

Fixed asset turnover 12.60 15.04 15.20 11.16 8.96

 

Gross profit margin 6.53 5.52 5.46 6.75 9.20

Return on assets 10.12 8.53 9.05 7.06 5.50

Return on member equity 57.68 30.75 29.79 20.20 12.80

(continued next page)
46 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Fish marketing Poultry marketing

Cooperative sales size ≥ $10 $5 to $1 to Less than ≥ $50 < $50 

million $10 million $5 million $1 million million million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 73.37 42.33 54.36 49.32 65.73 57.82

Other assets 0.10 0.10 0.43 0.16 0.89 16.89

Investments 0.09 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.30 0.00

PP&E1 (net) 26.44 57.57 45.21 50.52 32.09 25.28

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 61.26 23.87 41.47 32.43 36.57 31.78

Total liabilities 66.01 72.78 75.27 56.38 52.06 41.40

Allocated equity 27.04 21.47 14.89 43.21 24.23 24.90

Retained earnings 6.96 5.75 9.83 0.41 23.71 33.70

Total equity 33.99 27.22 24.73 43.62 47.94 58.60

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 79.25 78.36 85.86 85.82 83.50 80.79

Gross margin 20.75 21.64 14.14 14.18 16.50 19.21

 

Service and other income 0.04 5.29 0.83 7.87 0.08 1.35

Gross revenue 20.79 26.93 14.97 22.06 16.58 20.56

Expenses

Wages 6.69 8.39 4.86 9.98 6.59 5.09

Depreciation 0.80 2.88 2.81 1.03 1.07 1.29

Interest 0.73 1.39 0.52 0.49 0.52 0.22

Other 12.15 10.18 5.99 8.02 4.62 10.49

Total expenses 20.37 22.84 14.18 19.52 12.80 17.08

 

Net operating margins 0.42 4.09 0.79 2.54 3.78 3.48

Patronage income 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.09 0.02 0.00

Non-operating income 1.26 0.03 0.05 0.00 0.42 0.15

Net income before taxes 1.68 4.14 0.88 2.63 4.21 3.63

Taxes 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.81 0.00

Net income 1.65 4.13 0.87 2.63 3.41 3.63

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.20 1.77 1.31 1.52 1.80 1.82

 

Debt to asset 0.66 0.73 0.75 0.56 0.52 0.41

Debt to equity 1.94 2.67 3.04 1.29 1.09 0.71

Times interest earned 3.30 3.99 2.71 6.38 9.11 17.84

 

Total asset turnover 2.98 2.35 6.51 2.20 3.00 1.34

Fixed asset turnover 11.27 4.09 14.40 4.36 9.34 5.29

 

Gross profit margin 20.75 21.64 14.14 14.18 16.50 19.21

Return on assets 7.18 13.01 9.10 6.88 14.18 5.14

Return on member equity 18.16 45.22 38.16 13.43 42.13 19.46
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 47

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)

Type of cooperative Livestock marketing

Cooperative sales size ≥ $250 $50 to $10 to $5 to $1 to Less than

million $75 million to $35 million to $10 million to $5 million $1 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 82.33 87.38 58.51 48.30 48.71 62.01

Other assets 2.17 2.41 14.42 3.87 3.81 5.12

Investments 5.67 1.79 0.00 33.65 33.17 0.00

PP&E1 (net) 9.83 8.42 27.06 14.18 14.31 32.87

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 69.72 67.91 45.41 2.70 2.66 13.34

Total liabilities 81.39 77.54 67.89 2.90 2.86 16.85

Allocated equity 10.46 16.53 19.21 53.00 53.05 34.51

Retained earnings 8.15 5.93 12.89 44.10 44.10 48.64

Total equity 18.61 22.46 32.11 97.10 97.14 83.15

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 99.26 98.39 87.13 97.81 97.79 96.30

Gross margin 0.74 1.61 12.87 2.19 2.21 3.70

 

Service and other income 0.96 3.02 4.15 0.53 0.52 0.81

Gross revenue 1.70 4.63 17.03 2.72 2.72 4.50

Expenses

Wages 0.91 1.80 7.97 1.76 1.74 2.27

Depreciation 0.06 0.32 1.46 0.07 0.07 0.45

Interest 0.15 0.91 0.80 0.03 0.03 0.11

Other 0.53 1.02 6.06 1.34 1.38 1.73

Total expenses 1.65 4.05 16.29 3.20 3.21 4.56

 

Net operating margins 0.05 0.59 0.74 -0.48 -0.49 -0.06

Patronage income 0.09 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Non-operating income 0.07 0.10 0.05 0.22 0.23 0.20

Net income before taxes 0.21 0.72 0.79 -0.26 -0.27 0.14

Taxes 0.00 0.18 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.00

Net income 0.21 0.54 0.79 -0.28 -0.28 0.14

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.18 1.29 1.29 17.88 18.29 4.65

Debt to asset 0.81 0.78 0.68 0.03 0.03 0.17

Debt to equity 4.37 3.45 2.11 0.03 0.03 0.20

Times interest earned 2.41 1.79 1.98 -8.45 -8.70 2.29

 

Total asset turnover 14.61 2.17 2.27 18.12 18.21 8.75

Fixed asset turnover 148.69 25.75 8.38 127.83 127.30 26.62

Gross profit margin 0.74 1.61 12.87 2.19 2.21 3.70

Return on assets 5.29 3.54 3.59 -4.27 -4.33 2.25

Return on member equity 29.39 7.13 9.28 -9.47 -9.56 3.67

 (continued next page)
48 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Type of cooperative Dry bean and pea marketing Nut marketing Ethanol mktg.

Cooperative sales size ≥ $15 < $8 ≥ $25 < $15 

million million million million All sizes

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 81.81 79.68 67.56 49.41 27.22

Other assets 0.17 0.10 6.56 3.67 1.10

Investments 4.62 1.44 1.35 0.25 3.44

PP&E1 (net) 13.39 18.77 24.53 46.67 68.25

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 71.25 54.56 44.12 39.31 19.46

Total liabilities 74.58 57.93 67.54 71.25 35.13

Allocated equity 21.27 26.35 16.52 19.23 35.96

Retained earnings 4.15 15.72 15.94 9.52 28.92

Total equity 25.42 42.07 32.46 28.75 64.87

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 86.95 85.85 86.39 79.17 87.30

Gross margin 13.05 14.15 13.61 20.83 12.70

 

Service and other income 0.41 7.07 0.00 35.52 0.00

Gross revenue 13.46 21.22 13.61 56.35 12.70

Expenses

Wages 5.53 9.19 6.62 16.26 1.37

Depreciation 1.44 1.87 0.77 4.58 3.40

Interest 1.39 1.13 1.27 2.32 0.61

Other 1.99 4.25 1.83 21.48 5.53

Total expenses 10.35 16.45 10.50 44.64 10.90

 

Net operating margins 3.11 4.77 3.12 11.70 1.80

Patronage income 0.64 0.00 0.07 0.05 0.01

Non-operating income -0.24 0.72 0.10 0.11 0.45

Net income before taxes 3.51 5.49 3.28 11.86 2.26

Taxes 0.15 0.63 0.02 0.12 0.13

Net income 3.36 4.86 3.27 11.74 2.13

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.15 1.46 1.53 1.26 1.40

 

Debt to asset 0.75 0.58 0.68 0.71 0.35

Debt to equity 2.93 1.38 2.08 2.48 0.54

Times interest earned 3.52 5.84 3.58 6.12 4.70

 

Total asset turnover 1.39 1.40 2.70 0.97 1.88

Fixed asset turnover 10.40 7.47 10.99 2.09 2.75

 

Gross profit margin 13.05 14.15 13.61 20.83 12.70

Return on assets 6.83 9.29 12.28 13.82 5.39

Return on member equity 22.00 25.84 53.29 59.50 11.11

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 49

Type of cooperative Rice marketing Tobacco marketing Wool marketing

Cooperative sales size ≥ $50 < $15 ≥ $ 4 < $4

million million million million All sizes 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 67.27 56.99 91.38 37.59 3.79

Other assets 1.42 8.03 5.05 1.83 87.52

Investments 0.32 12.06 0.00 0.00 0.00

PP&E1 (net) 30.99 22.92 3.57 60.57 8.69

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 50.37 41.79 19.56 11.80 0.00

Total liabilities 60.52 43.93 19.77 13.23 21.56

Allocated equity 34.24 87.20 8.58 69.65 78.44

Retained earnings 5.23 -31.13 71.64 17.12 0.00

Total equity 39.48 56.07 80.23 86.77 78.44

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 66.96 98.98 99.03 86.56 36.92

Gross margin 33.04 1.02 0.97 13.44 63.08

 

Service and other income 1.98 2.05 3.50 32.32 3.35

Gross revenue 35.02 3.07 4.48 45.76 66.43

Expenses

Wages 8.83 1.42 3.99 17.48 1.70

Depreciation 1.59 0.11 0.34 4.32 0.00

Interest 0.39 0.08 0.03 0.62 0.00

Other 21.19 1.35 4.51 22.77 58.41

Total expenses 32.01 2.95 8.87 45.20 60.11

 

Net operating margins 3.01 0.12 -4.40 0.56 6.32

Patronage income 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02

Non-operating income 0.17 0.01 8.83 0.00 0.00

Net income before taxes 3.20 0.13 4.43 0.56 6.34

Taxes 0.05 0.02 0.77 0.00 0.00

Net income 3.15 0.11 3.66 0.56 6.34

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.34 1.36 4.67 3.19 0.00

 

Debt to asset 0.61 0.44 0.20 0.13 0.22

Debt to equity 1.53 0.78 0.25 0.15 0.27

Times interest earned 9.11 2.64 170.10 1.91 0.00

 

Total asset turnover 2.46 17.80 0.30 0.36 1.58

Fixed asset turnover 7.94 77.69 8.32 0.59 18.15

 

Gross profit margin 33.04 1.02 0.97 13.44 63.08

Return on assets 8.84 3.66 1.32 0.42 9.99

Return on member equity 22.63 2.30 12.68 0.29 12.74

(continued next page)

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
50 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Type of cooperative Sugar marketing

Cooperative sales size ≥ $300 $100 to $30 to Less than 

million $300 million $100 million $20 million 

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 43.33 50.28 25.09 75.94

Other assets 18.45 1.96 2.25 9.65

Investments 0.74 10.40 3.52 0.00

PP&E1 (net) 37.48 37.36 69.14 14.41

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 39.42 48.67 21.90 31.72

Total liabilities 70.96 57.84 47.13 49.43

Allocated equity 34.35 34.72 49.75 15.61

Retained earnings -5.30 7.43 3.11 34.96

Total equity 29.04 42.16 52.87 50.57

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of total sales

Total sales 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Cost of goods sold 80.59 74.53 71.41 93.60

Gross margin 19.41 25.47 28.59 6.40

 

Service and other income 2.22 4.79 0.28 3.78

Gross revenue 21.63 30.27 28.87 10.19

Expenses

Wages 8.76 7.13 12.63 0.42

Depreciation 3.13 2.37 2.66 0.06

Interest 1.53 1.06 2.24 0.02

Other 6.42 18.99 12.78 8.89

Total expenses 19.84 29.56 30.31 9.40

 

Net operating margins 1.79 0.71 -1.44 0.79

Patronage income 0.03 0.00 0.09 0.00

Non-operating income -0.45 1.05 0.96 0.00

Net income before taxes 1.36 1.76 -0.40 0.79

Taxes -0.03 0.23 0.25 0.00

Net income 1.39 1.53 -0.64 0.79

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.10 1.03 1.15 2.39

 

Debt to asset 0.71 0.58 0.47 0.49

Debt to equity 2.44 1.37 0.89 0.98

Times interest earned 1.89 2.66 0.82 35.97

 

Total asset turnover 1.48 1.92 1.32 24.98

Fixed asset turnover 3.94 5.13 1.91 173.40

 

Gross profit margin 19.41 25.47 28.59 6.40

Return on assets 4.27 5.41 2.44 20.31

Return on member equity 6.00 8.45 -1.71 126.56

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 51

Type of cooperative Rice drier Transportation Storage Hulling

Cooperative sales size ≥ $1 < $ 1

All sizes million million All sizes All sizes

Balance sheet Percent of total assets

Current assets 35.69 48.05 41.63 50.92 37.72

Other assets 3.88 1.54 2.22 2.88 2.23

Investments 0.41 1.95 2.94 0.00 0.24

PP&E1 (net) 60.03 48.46 53.20 46.19 59.81

Total assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

 

Current liabilities 26.83 30.24 13.30 11.76 26.19

Total liabilities 27.66 38.90 14.83 15.44 40.71

Allocated equity 65.13 47.99 78.89 80.57 58.61

Retained earnings 7.21 13.10 6.28 3.99 0.68

Total equity 72.34 61.10 85.17 84.56 59.29

Total equity and liabilities 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Income statement Percent of service

Service and other income 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Gross revenue 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Expenses

Wages 32.22 27.42 47.70 30.30 13.70

Depreciation 6.68 6.15 9.86 6.90 5.38

Interest 0.10 0.38 0.29 0.12 0.77

Other 33.00 60.63 36.83 45.78 31.19

Total expenses 72.00 94.59 94.68 83.10 51.04

 

Net operating margins 28.00 5.41 5.32 16.90 48.96

Patronage income 0.00 0.39 0.29 0.00 0.00

Non-operating income 0.62 0.49 1.32 0.32 0.31

Net income before taxes 28.62 6.29 6.93 17.22 49.27

Taxes 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.48 1.35

Net income 28.60 6.28 6.93 16.74 47.92

Ratios Percent or number

Current 1.33 1.59 3.13 4.33 1.44

 

Debt to asset 0.28 0.39 0.15 0.15 0.41

Debt to equity 0.38 0.64 0.17 0.18 0.69

Times interest earned 280.72 17.36 25.03 141.94 65.23

 

Return on assets 23.38 17.10 6.45 7.81 42.51

Return on member equity 35.75 33.55 7.85 9.35 69.45

Appendix table 6–Common size analysis, by cooperative type and size, 2008 (continued)
52 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Appendix Table 7–Cooperative net income before taxes, 1999-20081

 

 Net operating From other

Year margins cooperatives2 Total

 

 Million dollars

1999 945 384 1,328

2000 1,041 235 1,276

2001 1,039 318 1,357

2002 847 362 1,210

2003 1,013 92 1,105

2004 1,993 335 2,328

2005 2,147 401 2,548

2006 2,665 498 3,163

2007 3,184 646 3,830

2008 3,966 864 4,830

 

 

1

 Totals may not add due to rounding. Excludes income from cooperative pooling operations. 2

 Dividends and patronage refunds received from other marketing, supply, and service

 cooperatives, and CoBank, where applicable. 
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 53

APPENDIX FIGURES

Supply

41.2%

 Dairy

6.0%

 Fruit & Vegetable 

6.8%

 Other Marketing

7.0%

 Livestock & 

Poultry

3.0%

 Cotton

0.5%

 Grain & Oilseed

24.1%

Service

11.5%

Percentages are based on a total of 2,473 cooperatives. 1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, wool and mohair, tobacco, rice, sugar, fishery, and other product marketing cooperatives. 

1

Appendix Figure 1–Distribution of Cooperatives by Type, 2008

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

Million

Memberships

Farms

Appendix Figure 2–U.S. Farms and Cooperative Memberships, 1979-2008
54 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

Other Marketing1

5.7%

Supplies

36.0%

Service

3.6%

Cotton

1.3%

Fruit & Vegetable

12.6%

Livestock & 

Poultry

1.9%

Sugar

4.8%

Grain & Oilseed

15.8%

Dairy

19.1%

Rice

2.1%

Percentages are based on a total of 124.4 thousand full-time employees. 1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, wool and mohair, tobacco, fishery, and other product marketing cooperatives. 

Appendix Figure 3–Distribution of Full-Time Employees by Cooperatives Type, 2008

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

Billion dollars

Gross1

Net2

2 Excludes inter-cooperative business.

1 Includes inter-cooperative business.

Appendix Figure 4–Cooperatives’ Gross and Net Business Volumes, 1979-2008
Cooperative Statistics, 2008 55

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007

1

 Total includes value of related services and other income.

Billion dollars

Total

1

Supply

Marketing

Appendix Figure 5–Cooperative’s Net Business Volume, 1979-2008

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

1

 Includes other cooperatives and CoBank.

Billion dollars

Investments

Refunds

Appendix Figure 6–Cooperatives’ Investments in Other Cooperatives and Patronage 

Refunds Received from Other Cooperatives1, 1999-2008
56 Cooperative Statistics, 2008

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Supply

Grains and Oilseeds

Fruits and Vegetables 

Dairy

Service

Cotton

Sugar

Rice

Livestock and Poultry

Percent of total 

Percentage based on net income before taxes of $4.8 billion. 

1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, wool and mohair, tobacco, fishery, and other product marketing cooperatives.

Other Marketing1

Appendix Figure 7–Distribution Net Income, by Cooperative Type, 2008

0 5 10 15 20 25

 Dairy

Supply

 Livestock & Poultry

 Grain & Oilseed

Service

 Sugar

 Fruit & Vegetable

 Rice

Percent of total 

Percentage based on total losses of $74 million. 

1 Includes dry bean and pea, nut, wool and mohair, tobacco, fishery, and other product marketing cooperatives.

Other Marketing1

Appendix Figure 8–Distribution of Losses, by Cooperatives Type, 2008