Cooperatives in California Agriculture

This report provides an overview of California agricultural cooperative activities in the mid-1980’s. The study identifies 227 different cooperative businesses with a total of nearly 69,000 memberships in 1986. These organizations carry out a range of functions for their members, including processing, marketing, bargaining, and providing different services such as input supplies and insurance. In several subsectors, separate cooperatives perform services at different levels in the commodity vertical system. Growers often belong to more than one cooperative. The activities of these cooperatives are analyzed by functions performed. Examples are given of cooperatives’ involvement in the almond, cotton, and fresh and processed fruit sectors. Relationships between bargaining associations and marketing/processing cooperatives are described. Explanations are given for different patterns of cooperative involvement between industries