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Abstract
The Nation’s 265 dairy cooperatives marketed 122.6 billion pounds of milk, or 82 percent of all milk sold to plants and dealers in 1992. These cooperatives were owned by 110,440 member-producers. Eighty-six cooperatives operated 299 dairy processing and manufacturing plants, 44 cooperatives had milkreceiving stations only, and 135 had no milk-handling facilities. Cooperatives sold 16 percent of the Nation’s packaged fluid products, 10 percent of the ice cream and ice milk, 65 percent of the butter, 81 percent of the dry milk products, 43 percent of the natural cheese, 48 percent of the dry whey products, and 13 percent of the cottage cheese made in the United States. The prevailing method of paying for member milk by the reporting cooperatives was to adjust the milk price for both butterfat and other component(s). Milk quality was the primary driving factor in the overwhelming majority of price incentive programs offered by cooperatives.