Excerpts from the Preface: This study was undertaken to evaluate the operations of 14 cooperatives that sell and service farm machinery. Detailed objectives were to determine the types of services provided, policies followed, capital required, and volume needed to realize reasonable net margins. The 14 cooperatives with the largest farm machinery sales were selected for this study from about 125 cooperatives in the United States that handle farm machinery as franchise dealers for major manufacturers. Records and information were obtained by personal interview with their managements. They were located in Maryland, Virginia, Maine, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Washington, and Oregon. In this study of the 14 largest cooperative dealers, guidelines are presented that managers believed would aid in handling the problems of machinery management and would improve services and operation of a cooperative farm machinery business.
