Excerpts from the report Highlights: The 1968-69 survey of marketing, farm supply, and related service cooperatives showed a continuing upward trend in total business volume but a decrease in number of memberships and organizations between July 1, 1968, and June 30, 1969. Total gross business volume (including intercooperative business) handled by these cooperatives amounted to $22.7 billion. This was an increase of 1.5 percent from the $22.4 billion reported in the previous fiscal year. Total net business, after adjusting the gross figure for business done between cooperatives, amounted to $17.4 billion. This was an increase of 2.1 percent from the $17 billion net in 1967-68. The total number of farmer cooperatives decreased from 7,940 in 1967-68 to 7,747 in 1968-69, a net decrease of 193 associations. The decline largely reflects a continuing reorganization trend involving merger, consolidation, and acquisition. Cooperative memberships totaled 6,364,000 in 1968-69, a decrease of 1.3 percent from 6,445,000 memberships reported for 1967-68. The drop continues the long-term trend of declining cooperative memberships due to the decreasing number of farmers in the United States.