Year of the Farmer Co-op
About the Year of the Farmer Co-op
In July of 2011, the United States Senate passed a resolution declaring 2012 to be the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) to recognize and celebrate the benefits cooperatives of all types deliver to the communities they serve. The Senate’s action came on the heels of the United Nations General Assembly passing a resolution proclaiming the year 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.
As our part of IYC, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives is celebrating 2012 as the Year of the Farmer Co-op. Over the course of the year, NCFC and our members will highlight the role that farmer-owned co-ops play in giving family farmers across the country an ownership stake in the food and agriculture system from the farm gate all the way to grocery store shelves.
Farmer Co-ops: Providing for America
Rural America is characterized by individual initiative and self-reliance—the bedrock of our nation’s culture and character. It’s how American agriculture became the envy of the world.
That spirit of working together lives and thrives in the 3,000 farmer co-ops that are providing for America. From corner groceries, to superstores, to school lunch programs, farmer co-ops give the country a safe, affordable and abundant food supply.
Co-ops also help their producer-owners compete in a global marketplace, engage in value added processing, and supply just about any input—from feed, seed and fertilizer to fuel, tires and tools—needed to run a successful farm or ranch.
The cooperatively-owned Farm Credit System makes sure that farmers, ranchers and their co-ops have a dependable and competitive way to finance their operations—in both good times and bad.
And the reach of farmer co-ops extends far beyond the farm itself. Across the U.S., farmer co-ops are the economic lifeblood of many rural communities. They provide jobs to over a quarter of a million Americans, and have a payroll in excess of $8 billion a year.
All across rural America, farmer co-ops are an important part of the social fabric, doing things as simple as sponsoring the local Little League team to things as difficult as helping their neighbors recover from natural disasters.
If America needs it, farmer co-ops provide it. Help us celebrate 2012 as the Year of the Farmer Co-op and recognize the important contributions they make to their members-owners, to consumers, and to their communities.
