UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN NO. 1302 
Washington, D. C. 
Issued December 29, 1924 
Revised April, 1925 
DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENT STATUS OF FARMERS' COOPERATIVE 
BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS 
By R. H. Elsworth, 1 Specialist in Agricultural Cooperation, Bureau of 
Agricultural Economics 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Three nation-wide surveys 1 
Cooperation in 1913-1915 4 
Cooperative sales and purchases in 1919 5 
Cooperation in 1921-1924 5 
Subjects covered by tables: 
Statistics for 1912-1915 14 
Census survey of 1919 22 
Associations in United States, 1924 25 
Associations in leading States, 1924 28 
Organization characteristics and mem- 
bership 30 
Amount of business 38 
Page 
Tables— Continued . 
Date of organization 44 
Collective purchasing 45 
Grain-marketing associations . 46 
Creameries ... . 54 
Fruit and vegetable associations 56 
Associations handling livestock... 59 
Cotton, rice, tobacco, and wool associa- 
tions... 63 
Agricultural consumer cooperation 65 
Associations "out of business" 65 
Specific associations 67 
THREE NATION-WIDE SURVEYS 
Three nation-wide surveys have been made to determine the 
extent and intensity of the agricultural cooperative movement. The 
first of these was begun in 1913 and was continued through 1915, 
when data for the years 1912, 1913, 1914, and 1915 were collected. 
Reports were obtained from 5,424 organizations and this collection 
of data was the basis of the statistical portion of Department of 
Agriculture Bulletin No. 547, published in 1917. 
In 1919, data relative to the extent of cooperative buying and 
selling by farmers were collected as a part of the agricultural census, 
made by the Bureau of the Census. These were so compiled as to 
show the number of farms in each State reporting sales or purchases, 
and the amount of business involved in these transactions. As the 
census enumerators covered every township in the United States, 
the data, so far as the items covered are concerned, are complete and 
are of great value in connection with statistical studies of the subject. 
Furthermore, the data make possible a comprehensive picture of 
the status of agricultural cooperation in 1919. 
Early in 1922 the third survey of cooperative buying and selling 
was undertaken. This contemplated an enumeration and listing of 
all active farmers' business organizations by kinds of products 
handled and by States, cities, and villages. Sixty thousand indi- 
viduals scattered through the 48 States, assisted in obtaining the 
- Much of the work in connection with compiling the statistical tables was done by William H. Baker 
and Grace Wanstall. 
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