Rural Cooperatives back issues from July 2006:
The third way.(COMMENTARY)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Summertime, and the grilling is easy. Barbecue season usually boosts both beef sales nationally and spirits in cattle country. As such, it is fitting that our cover story this month is on the Country Natural Beef cooperative, which has grown steadily from small roots in Oregon to become a ...
The natural: "brickless" marketing co-op helps ranchers tap growing market for lean, natural beef.(Cover story)
Jul 01, 2006; ... Peering out from under the brim of his straw cowboy hat, Lowell Forman looks as if he would be right at home belly up to the bar of the Long Branch Saloon, shooting the breeze with Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty. But the Antelope, Ore., rancher is serving, not drinking, as he hits the switch ...
Summit focuses on common challenges, opportunities facing all co-op sectors.
Jul 01, 2006 ... Where is Teddy Roosevelt when America needs him? Glenn English, CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), raised this question during an address that was one of the highlights of the first National Cooperative Summit, held May 3 in Washington, D.C. ...
Unincorporated co-op laws proliferate.(LEGAL CORNER)
Jul 01, 2006; ... For over 150 years, a cooperative has been defined as a business with two unique characteristics: first, it is owned and controlled by the people who use its services, and second, earnings are returned to users (patrons) on the basis of use (patronage). Since 2001, five ...
Carving a niche: arctic cooperatives serve as midwife to birth of Inuit art.
Jul 01, 2006; ... One of the great "cultural miracles" of the 20th century occurred when the world discovered the beauty of art produced by the native Inuit people of Canada's Arctic regions. This process, which began in the 1950s, was chronicled by Nelson Graburn, an anthropologist at the University of ...
Renewable energy sparks surge of new co-ops.(CO-OP DEVELOPMENT ACTION)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Editor's Note: This column has been compiled by Cooperation Works! to provide highlights of cooperative development activities funded under USDA Rural Development's Rural Cooperative Development Grants (RCDG) program. This article focuses on sustainable-energy technologies and facilities ....
USDA/co-op partnership aids producer quest for market power.
Jul 01, 2006; ... Eighty years ago, farmer cooperatives were, as they are now, vital parts of American agriculture and rural communities. They were growing in size, number and sophistication. Cooperatives had received protection under the CapperVolstead Act of 1922 against unanticipated antitrust ...
On & off the top 100: 25 years of tracking the largest ag co-ops.
Jul 01, 2006; ... The January/February 2006 issue of this magazine reported average financial results for the Top 100 cooperatives for 2004, which marked the 25th anniversary of this important research program. The annual ranking of businesses by size of sales has been a popular performance benchmark, ...
Calcot eyes acquisition of SWIG.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... The possible combination of Calcot and Southwestern Irrigated Cotton Growers (SWIG), two of the nation's oldest cotton marketing cooperatives, is two steps closer to becoming reality. Calcot's board of directors, voting unanimously via conference call on June 27, agreed in principle to ...
USDA, DOE to host renewable energy conference.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel Bodman have announced that the two agencies will co-host a national renewable energy conference to help create partnerships and strategies necessary to accelerate commercialization of renewable energy ...
Garfield purrs for Swiss Valley.
Jul 01, 2006 ... As his 263 million readers worldwide well know, Garfield the cat never met a lasagna he didn't like. But it turns out Garfield is also pretty fond of chocolate milk. In addition to being the most widely syndicated cartoon character in the world (Garfield appears in 2,600 newspapers) the ...
Energy & environment focus of Farmer Co-op Conference.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... The 9th annual Farmer Cooperatives Conference will be held Nov. 1-2 at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, Minneapolis South, Minn. This year's theme will be "Opportunities for Cooperatives: Renewable Energy and Environmental Management." Renewable energy topics will focus on: * ...
Faulkner deputy under secretary for USDA Rural Development.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has appointed of Douglas L. Faulkner to serve as deputy under secretary for rural development. "Renewable fuels are a vital component of America's energy independence and an important financial opportunity for our nation's farmers," said Johanns. "Doug ...
Thatcher to manage CHS Foundation.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... The CHS Foundation has named Jennifer Thatcher as the new manager of the CHS Foundation, an independent, private foundation affiliated with CHS Inc. that actively supports the future of rural America, agriculture and cooperative business through education and leadership development ....
Edelweiss Graziers Co-op formed.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Edelweiss Graziers Cooperative has been formed by a small group Wisconsin dairy farmers to create specialty, grass-based cheese from the milk of their rotationally grazed dairy herds. The Wisconsin Ag Connection reports that the co-op aims to combine the craftsmanship of master cheesemaker ...
Wisconsin's Black Creek Cheddar goes nationwide.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Alto Dairy Cooperative is partnering with Winona Food Inc. to market newly branded Black Creek Classic Cheddar nationwide. The co-op reports that this naturally aged, hand-selected cheese has passed the rigorous standards imposed by the Wisconsin master cheesemakers at Mto Dairy ...
CCA honors Jordan, Bryant as top communicators.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Saluted for her "commitment to success" and as "a mentor and a model of doing things right," the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) presented Lani Jordan, director of communications for CHS Inc., with the H.E. Klinefelter award, its highest honor, during its annual meeting in ...
National Beef acquires Brawley Beef.(NEWSLINE)
Jul 01, 2006 ... National Beef Packing Co. LLC and its majority owner, U.S. Premium Beef LLC (USPB), have completed acquisition of Brawley, Calif.-based Brawley Beef LLC. Brawley is contributing its assets in exchange for an ownership interest in U.S. Premium Beef. For National Beef, the ...
Making merchandise move.(50 Years Ago ...: From the July and August, 1956 issues of News for Farmer Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... "To do a better job of merchandising for farmers, co-ops must know something about people and their reactions. A business should carry articles people need and then handle these articles in a way to please the users," explains F. Byron B. Cory, president of Henry County Supply Co-op ...
Fish fare fine on rice farms.(50 Years Ago ...: From the July and August, 1956 issues of News for Farmer Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... The Arkansas Fish Farmers Cooperative of Lonoke, Ark., began in January of 1956 to raise fish in the same fields as rice. By rotating fish with rice, members of the co-op are making more money and improving the land. Some good results that have been reported include: (1) the organization ...
Co-ops process and market cottonseed.(50 Years Ago ...: From the July and August, 1956 issues of News for Farmer Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Cottonseed, processed and marketed by cooperative mills, has found its way into several diverse products, such as food shortening, cattle feed, mops, surgical dressings, paints, meat casings, soap, printing inks, twine and explosives. Fourteen co-op cottonseed oil mills process about 10 ...
Cooperative Marketing Act 50th Anniversary.(30 Years Ago ...: From the July and August, 1976 issues of Farmer Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... On July 2, 1976, the Cooperative Marketing Act celebrated its 50th anniversary. When the Act was approved in 1926, "helping farmers to help themselves" became national policy. The Act enlarged, strengthened and made permanent the Department of Agriculture's formal assistance to ...
Texas cooperative making denim.(30 Years Ago ...: From the July and August, 1976 issues of Farmer Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Since at least 1953, the Southwest cooperative cotton industry has been trying to develop a marketing system that would reward producers and distribute their product as economically as possible. To do so, the American Cotton Growers (ACG) is constructing a $30 million denim manufacturing ...
Russian farm specialists visit Mid-America.(30 Years Ago ...: From the July and August, 1976 issues of Farmer Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... "A team of Russian agricultural specialists visited Mid-America Dairymen's headquarters in Springfield, Mo., this spring to study research and accounting facilities and to discuss milk marketing. In summing up their experiences on their tour of this country, V. N. Pustozerov, spokesman for ...
Memory quilt honors Land O'Lakes 75th Anniversary.(10 Years Ago ...: From the July/August, 1996 issue of Rural Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... "A 90- by 110-inch memory quilt that features the cooperative's family history in fabric has been created by members, employees and their families to honor the 75th anniversary of Land O'Lakes Inc. (LOL), at Minneapolis. Rita Page Reuss, LOL's vice president for public affairs, said the ...
Minority producer co-ops face marketing and financing challenges.(10 Years Ago ...: From the July/August, 1996 issue of Rural Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... Only a handful of minority-owned farm and handicraft cooperatives are presently included in USDA's cooperative database. This is in part a reflection of the small number of minority-owned farms in the United States. In 1919, there were 1 million black farmers in the United States, but that ...
Navajo co-op weaves self-reliance.(10 Years Ago ...: From the July/August, 1996 issue of Rural Cooperatives)
Jul 01, 2006 ... "The Ramah Navajo Weavers Association is a grassroots cooperative group made up of more than 40 traditional weavers who live on the Ramah Navajo Reservation in the pinion-pine country of west-central New Mexico. Founded by 17 women in 1984, the association is working towards two broad ...
USDA working with nonprofit to boost bioenergy in Arkansas.(INSIDE RURAL DEVELOPMENT)
Jul 01, 2006; ... USDA Rural Development offices across the nation are working with cooperatives, individuals, partnerships and corporations to help promote the development of the nation's rapidly emerging bio-fuel economy. This is without doubt the most exciting and promising economic development for rural ...