Excerpts from the report Highlights: The 1973-74 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, 1973, and June 30, 1974 (1973-74 statistics appear in the main body of the report; comparative figures for 1972-73 are in the appendix). Total gross business volume (including intercooperative business) handled by these cooperatives amounted to $48.1 billion in 1973-74. This was an increase of 38.9 percent from the $34.6 billion reported in the previous fiscal year. Total net business, after adjusting the gross figure for business done between cooperatives, amounted to $35.8 billion. This was an increase of 35.8 percent from the $26.2 billion net in 1972-73. The total number of farmer cooperatives decreased from 7,854 in 1972-73 to 7,755 in 1973-74, a net decrease of 99 associations. The decline largely reflects a continuing reorganization trend involving merger, consolidation, and acquisition. Cooperative memberships totaled 6,105,530 in 1973-74, a decrease of 0.4 percent from 6,127,935 memberships reported for 1972-73. The drop continues the long-term trend of declining cooperative memberships due to the decreasing number of farmers in the United States.