Nation's Largest 100 Agriculture Co-ops Post Near-Record Sales

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Cities Developing Urban Agriculture Codes

Urban agriculture has become increasingly popular in recent years as a way to deal with vacant properties, revitalize neighborhoods, and provide job skills and nutrition to local residents struggling with poverty and a lack of access to fresh produce.

In Austin, Texas, a working group of the Sustainable Food Policy Board is meeting to clarify and update city code related to urban farms, livestock, size of farm, employees and dwellings, according to the Austin Chronicle.

The working group has been holding public sessions to gather input from urban farmers and community members about pending updates to the urban farm ordinance.

In April 2013, the Flint Farmers' Market reported that the Detroit City Council adopted the city's first urban agriculture zoning ordinance recognizing agriculture as a legitimate land use and setting standards for it.

Other cities working to update or create urban agriculture codes include Boston, Massachusetts;
Fort Collins, Colorado; and Portland, Oregon.

For more information, see USDA's National Ag Library webpage on Urban Agriculture.

Nation's Largest 100 Agriculture Co-ops Post Near-Record Sales

Home » AgMRC Blog

Posted by Christa Hartsook | May 9, 2012 | 0 Comments

The nation’s 100 largest agriculture cooperatives reported near-record revenue of $118 billion in 2010. This was an increase of 4 percent over 2009 figures. Net income for the 100 top agriculture co-ops was also up more than 10 percent in 2010, reaching $2.39 billion, up from $2.16 billion in 2009.

CHS Inc., a farm supply, grain and foods cooperative based in Saint Paul, MN, topped the list with 2010 revenue of $25.3 billion. Land O’ Lakes, a dairy foods and farm supply co-op, also based in Saint Paul, ranked second, with revenue of $11.1 billion; Dairy Farmers of America, based in Kansas City, Mo., was third with $9.8 billion in 2010 revenue.

Leading the revenue increase from 2009 to 2010 were dairy cooperatives, which saw 2010 revenue climb more than 14.5 percent from the previous year, to $29.5 billion. Dairy cooperatives accounted for more than half of the revenue increase recorded by the top 100 ag co-ops in 2010.

For a complete list of the top 100 cooperatives, go to http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/rdTop100AgCoopList04-27-2012.pdf. For a more detailed look at the top 100 Ag Co-ops, see page 16 of the March-April issue of USDA's "Rural Cooperatives" magazine: http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/pub/openmag.htm.

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