Question: CF Industries Holdings, Inc. is a North American manufacturer and distributor of agricultural fertilizers, based in Deerfield, Illinois, for its first,of how many year, it was a federation of regional agricultural supply cooperatives, a co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives?

Context paragraphs:
British co-operative movement: The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7,000 registered co-operatives which are owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy.  Modern co-operation started with the Rochdale Pioneers' shop in the northern English town of Rochdale in 1844, though the history of co-operation in the UK can be traced back to before 1800.  The British co-operative movement is most commonly associated with The Co-operative brand (best known for its supermarket and Funeralcare brands) which has been adopted by several large consumers' co-operative societies; however, there are many thousands of registered co-operative businesses operating in the UK.  Alongside these consumers' co-operatives, there exist many prominent agricultural co-operatives (621), co-operative housing providers (619), health and social care cooperatives (111), cooperative schools (834), retail co-operatives, co-operatively run community energy projects, football supporters' trusts, credit unions and worker-owned businesses.

Cooperative federation: A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives.

Universal Cooperatives: Universal Cooperatives, based in Eagan, Minnesota, is a cooperative controlled by 17 regional agricultural marketing and agricultural supply cooperatives.  The distribution system includes 110 regional feed mills, 26 warehouses, and 7 research farms.  The company was formed November 1, 1972 by a merger of United Cooperatives, Inc. of Alliance, Ohio and National Cooperatives, Inc. of Albert Lea, Minnesota.  The companies had inter-mixed ownership, leading to merger discussion, and eventual merger.  On May 11, 2014, Universal Cooperatives, Inc. and its domestic subsidiaries filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Co-operative wholesale society: A co-operative wholesale society, or CWS, is a form of co-operative federation (that is, a co-operative in which all the members are co-operatives), in this case, the members are usually consumer cooperatives.  According to co-operative economist Charles Gide, the aim of a co-operative wholesale society is to arrange “bulk purchases, and, if possible, organise production.”  In other words, a co-operative wholesale society is a form of federal co-operative through which consumers co-operatives can collectively purchase goods at wholesale prices, and in some cases collectively own factories or farms.

David Griffiths (co-operative economist): David Griffiths is a co-operative economist, who has contributed a number of books and articles on the subject of unemployment, the history of Victoria's Co-operative movement, and 'social care co-operatives' amongst other subjects.  Between 1981 and 1984, Griffiths was the Co-ordinator of the Victorian State Government's Co-operative Development Program, and the Social Welfare officer for the charity the Brotherhood of St. Laurence.  Griffiths is the current Secretary, and a former Chairman, of the Co-operative Federation of Victoria, and is the webmaster and a regular contributor to the CFV's australia.coop web portal.  australia.coop was the first country-wide web portable under the . coop domain established in the world.  In February 2007 he became the webmaster for the web site of the International Co-operative Alliance http://www.ica.coop

CF Industries: CF Industries Holdings, Inc. is a North American manufacturer and distributor of agricultural fertilizers, based in Deerfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.  It was founded in 1946 as the Central Farmers Fertilizer Company.  For its first 56 years, it was a federation of regional agricultural supply cooperatives. CF then demutualized, and became a publicly traded company.

Federated Co-operatives: Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), is a co-operative federation, established in 1955, providing procurement and distribution to member co-operatives in Western Canada.  Federated Co-operatives is owned by about 365 member co-operatives across the region.  Some are large co-operatives, such as Saskatoon Co-op and Calgary Co-op, while others are small co-ops based in small towns, such as Abernethy Co-op.

Students for Cooperation: Students for Cooperation (SfC) is a co-operative federation of student co-operatives across the UK, which exists to "develop and support the growing student co-operative movement".  As a secondary co-op, the organisation is owned and controlled by its constituent member co-operatives.

Agricultural supply store: An agricultural supply store or agrocenter is an agriculturally-oriented shop where one sells agricultural supplies -- inputs required for agricultural production such as pesticides, feed and fertilizers .  Sometimes these stores are organized as cooperatives, where store customers aggregate their resources to purchase agricultural inputs.  Agricultural supply and the stores that provide it are part of the larger Agribusiness industry.

Zen-Noh: ZEN-NOH (全農 , Zennō ) , National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations (全国農業協同組合連合会 , Zenkoku Nōgyō Kyōdō Kumiai Rengōkai ) , is a federation of agricultural cooperatives in Japan.  ZEN-NOH was formed in 1972 with the joining of the ZENHANREN group (National Marketing Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations) and the ZENKOREN group (National Purchasing Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations).  ZEN-NOH consists of 1,173 agricultural cooperatives and federations that in 2004 had a combined revenue of $53.8 billion (USD).  ZEN-NOH is involved in the marketing, tracking, and quality assurance of the products of its cooperatives.  As of 2006, ZEN-NOH has declared that it will not participate in the research and development of genetically modified foods.  ZEN-NOH is one of the world's largest importers of animal feeds and agricultural fertilizers.  70% of the sales of chemical fertilizers in Japan are handled by them.  ZEN-NOH is also largely involved in the production of farming equipment, primarily tractors.

Supporting paragraphs: CF Industries Cooperative federation
Answer: 56