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A record year for farmer cooperatives

Thanks to strong prices for commodities and farm supplies, sales by agricultural co-ops were nearly $235 billion last year up 8.3 percent or $18 billion from the previous record set in 2011. Net income was $6.1 billion up 13 percent from 2011.

There was also a 4.4 percent increase in net assets owned by farmer cooperatives, everything from grain elevators to food processing plants rose to $82.9 billion.

The top 100 cooperatives had a record $162 billion or 68.9 percent of the total co-op sales last year. They also reported a record net income of $3.5 billion. Thirty-one cooperatives recorded sales of a billion dollars or more in 2012.

Iowa is home to 16 of the top 100 ag co-ops followed by Minnesota with 13, Nebraska with 9, Wisconsin with 5, and California with 4 of the top 100.

Minnesota-based CHS is the largest farmer co-op in the country with 2012 sales of $40.6 billion and net assets worth $13.9 billion. Another Minnesota co-op, Land O’Lakes moved into the number-2 spot with sales of $14.1 billion and net assets of $6.3 billion. Dairy Farmers of America slipped to the number-3 position as net sales declined from $12.9 billion in 2011 to $11.9 billion in 2012. The Kansas City-based dairy cooperative did see an increase in net assets to $2.8 billion. Illinois-based GROWMARK is fourth on the list with sales of $10.1 billion and $2.7 billion in assets.

Further details including a list of the top 100 farmer cooperatives available here: