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Abstract
Excerpts from the report Highlights: The 1971-72 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, 1971, and June 30, 1972 (1971-72 statistics in the main body of the report; comparative figures for 1970-71 are presented in the appendix section). Total gross business volume (including intercooperative business) handled by these cooperatives amounted to $28.7 billion. This was an increase of 5.0 percent from the $27.3 billion reported in the previous fiscal year. Total net business, after adjusting the gross figure for business done between cooperatives, amounted to $21.7 billion. This was an increase of 5.4 percent from the $20.6 billion net in 1970-71. The total number of farmer cooperatives decreased from 7,995 in 1970-71 to 7,797 in 1971-72, a net decrease of 198 associations. The decline largely reflects a continuing reorganization trend involving merger, consolidation, and acquisition. Cooperative memberships totaled 6,146,550 in 1971-72, a decrease of 0.2 percent from 6,157,740 memberships reported for 1970-71. The drop continues the long-term trend of declining cooperative memberships due to the decreasing number of farmers in the United States.