November 2017

USA
Top 100 co-ops of the year named by National Cooperative Bank
The top 100 revenue-earning co-ops in
the USA for 2016 have been named in the
latest annual survey from the National
Cooperative Bank (NCB), which provides
banking services to the sector.
The annual NCB Co-op 100 found that
the top 100 co-op businesses posted
approximately $208bn in revenue
between them, prompting NCB president
and chairman Charles Snyder to say:
“The economic impact of cooperatives is
critical to our economy.”
He added: “Co-operatives can be seen in
just about every industry across America,
including local food, finance, housing
and energy. Whether it’s bringing fresh
local food through a food co-op or
affordable home ownership through a
housing co-operative, cooperatives help
strengthen communities.”
The report, unveiled at the Co-op
Impact conference organised by US
apex body NCBA CLUSA, highlights
the ways co-ops commit to their
members and their community. The
CHS Inc (agriculture, St Paul, Minnesota
Dairy Farmers of America (agriculture, Kansas, Missouri)
Land O’Lakes Inc (agriculture, St Paul, Minnesota)
Wakefern Food Co-op / Shoprite (grocery, Keasbey, New Jersey)
Associated Wholesale Grocers (grocery, Kansas City, Kansas)
Growmark Inc (agriculture, Bloomington, Illinois)
HealthPartners Inc (healthcare, Bloomington, Minnesota)
Navy Federal Credit Union (finance, Merrifield, Virginia)
ACE Hardware Corp (hardware and lumber, Oak Brook, Illinois)
Unified Grocers Inc (grocery, Commerce, California)
second highest hardware & lumber
co-op, behind ACE, was Do-it-Best Corp,
of Fort Wayne, Indiana, which made
$3bn and was placed 12th. Behind Navy
Federal as second-largest finance co-op
was CoBank, of Greenwood Village,
Colorado, which made $2.8bn and came
$30.3bn
$13.5bn
$13.2bn
$12.8bn
$9.2bn
$7bn
$6bn
$5.4bn
$5.1bn
$3.7bn
in 14th on the list. The largest energy &
communications co-operatives were Basin
Electric Power Cooperative, of Bismarck,
North Dakota, which came 18th, earning
$2bn; and Oglethorpe Power Corporation,
of Tucker, Georgia, which came 27th,
earning $1.5bn.
Impact conference: Co-op data sheds light on America’s ‘best kept secret’
“Co-ops are the best kept secret,” said
National Cooperative Ban chief Charles
Snyder. “And we need to be more vocal.”
Unveiling the top 100 co-ops at the
Cooperative Impact Conference last
month in Virginia, Alexandria, Mr Snyder
called for co-ops to talk more about their
impact in communities.
During a discussion on co-op impact,
Terry Barr, chair of the NCBA’s council of
co-op economists and senior director
for knowledge exchange at CoBank,
which serves US rural businesses, said
it was important for co-ops to get their
information out in an efficient manner.
Over 2,000 agricultural co-ops with 1.9
million members have a business volume
of $212bn – and nine of the top 20 biggest
co-ops by revenue are based in the sector.
Historically, agricultural co-ops have
marketed up to one-third of total US
agricultural commodities. But, warned
Mr Barr, co-ops struggle to explain their
impact when they engage with Congress
because there is a lack of data on rural
p Panellists discuss the needs to spread the news about the USA’s co-ops
areas, and statistics do not reflect the full
impact of co-ops.
Jordan van Dijn, senior economist at the
Credit Union National Association (CUNA)
talked about at the non-financial benefits
of credit unions, such as being memberowned,
providing financial education and
having fewer incentives to take risks.
The sector employs 300,000 people
across the USA, and total of 883,000 jobs
are indirectly related to the credit union
economy, he said. Employees also earn a
total revenue $93bn. Credit unions have
an overall economic output of $192bn –
greater than the GDP of 22 US states.
Worker co-ops are also making a
difference to people’s lives. Melissa
Hoover, founding executive director of
the Democracy at Work Institute, told
delegates how worker co-ops generated
1,200 jobs in the low wage economy.
Russell Tucker, chief economist at
the National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association (NRECA), said electric co-ops
looked at the importance of electricity for
the rural areas served by electric co-ops.
Elecric co-ops have a total revenue of
$45bn, and distribute $5.5bn in wages,
via 70,000 jobs. They invest $13bn in
generation and distribution annually.
16 | NOVEMBER 2017