The Economic Impacts Associated with Locally Owned Agricultural Cooperatives: A Comparison of the Great Plains and the Eastern Cornbelt

Rural economic development has been a topic of importance to community and government leaders for some time, but is of even greater importance today given recent changes in the rural and agricultural marketplace. Increased consolidation of American agriculture is resulting in fewer farms, which, in turn, places pressure on the rural economies since there are fewer farm families to generate spending and economic activity. In addition, the recent low commodity prices are placing pressure on the spending ability of producers and farm families, which puts further pressure on rural economies. Locally owned agricultural cooperatives, whose businesses have typically centered around farm supply and grain marketing, have historically been an integral component of the local economy. In many rural areas today, local agricultural cooperatives are among a very small group of businesses in the local economy and thus are a mainstay of the rural economy. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) estimate the direct and total employment and income impacts of locally owned farm supply and grain marketing cooperatives i