These contacts are being used to identify success stories and potential contributors to the edited volume. Contacts are being made with successful new generation cooperatives and value added ventures so that case studies of 10 to 12 of these ventures can be prepared. These case studies will examine the reasons for creating the ventures, who was involved, how they function, how and why they did or did not succeed, and how they could be changed to make them more successful in the future. The project will be visited and participants will be interviewed topresent a balanced description of the efforts underway. One venture, South Dakota Soybean Processors, has been identified and they have agreed to participate in the effort.
Work is underway to identify the remaining efforts to be surveyed.
A detailed bibliography on new generation cooperatives has been started and has yielded a significant number of works in this area. This bibliography is designed to assess the literature on the topic to determine competition for the proposed book as well as to provide potential users with a better understanding of the state of the area. Plans are underway to survey the list of cooperative and value-added ventures that have been identified above by mail to determine their organizational structure, profitability, and other characteristics. This information will then be used to determine the feasibility of transferring this organizational structure to Illinois. This survey is beyond the scope of the current A-CAP funding and a decision will be made as to whether it will be pursued.