Given the decreasing number of cooperatives in the U.S. between 2017 and 2022, this study conducts a competing risk survival analysis on confidential data from the USDA1 to examine two exit types: mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and liquidations and dissolutions (L&D). By applying the Fine and Gray method and cumulative incidence analyses, the study incorporates two time scales—time-to-event and time-underobservation— to estimate determinants of the two exit pathways. This research demonstrates that failure in agricultural cooperatives is a complex process shaped by leverage, profitability, scale, and exogenous shocks. M&A represents a strategic decision for survival or growth, while L&D predominantly represents the failure of small and unprofitable cooperatives.
