Excerpts: Cooperatives have played a fundamental role in the development of America's agriculture. That role has increased in importance through the twentieth century to where about 28 percent of farm products are now marketed through cooperatives at the first-handler or farm-gate level, and 26 percent of farm supplies are purchased from cooperatives. However, cooperatives overall share of the agricultural economy has not increased in the 1980s. Moreover, decline has been noted in recent years in the number of new agricultural cooperatives being formed, and the failure rate among those that have been organized has been high. Because cooperatives have been a traditional means of self-help for farmers, these trends are potentially troublesome and provide the stimulus for the research reported herein. Our objective was to conceptually and empirically (1) analyze the economic benefits cooperatives may provide their members, and (2) assess the financial, organizational, operational, and membership policy requirements to developing a successful cooperative. This report focuses mainly on the empirical aspect of the research and, in particular, on analyzing the responses to a survey completed by 61 recently formed agricultural cooperatives.