More than 23% of agricultural cooperatives are more than 100 years old and 77% are more than 50 years old. Part of the clientele for those cooperatives are young producers. Almost 300,000 farmers (9% of the total) are under 35 years of age. This small but growing segment of the farm population often has limited access to land and credit and has greater financial vulnerability. Old cooperatives and young farmers can clearly benefit from each other but there are challenges involved in successfully matching the two.
Most legacy U.S. agricultural cooperatives operate under the open membership model where members invest in the business by receiving a portion of profits as revolving equity. That structure is young producer friendly in that it allows membership without a large up-front investment. On the other hand, the benefit stream from a cooperative is long-term in nature. Revolving equity patronage only turns into cash after a multi-year delay, and unlike corporate stock, cooperative equity is non-tradable and non-liquid. Agricultural cooperatives may have to re-think long revolving periods if they want to appeal to young producers.
Agricultural cooperatives are also user-controlled, and most cooperatives are eager to have young producers serve on their boards of directors. Unfortunately, young producers may be reluctant to join the board due to the competing use of their time from farm, family and off-farm work obligations. Agricultural cooperatives need new blood and new ideas. They may have to explore new, and less time-demanding, options to involve younger producers.
Despite these challenges, old cooperative and young producers can help each other. Agricultural cooperatives are constantly regenerating themselves and they need new members to create new equity. Young producers face operational and financial challenges. They need secure market access and improved profitability from supply chain ownership. Agricultural cooperatives were formed to allow producers to collectively accomplish what they could not do on their own.
While it is true that young producers may desire a different set of products and services relative to their more experienced brethren, they still represent the future of agricultural cooperatives. For example, young producers may be more interested in input financing and less interested in pre-pay discounts. Their participation may represent new opportunities and new risks for cooperatives. Young producers also tend to be technology savvy. Cooperatives and young producers might make excellent partners in the journey to evaluate and adopt new technologies.
Established cooperatives can benefit from young producers, and young producers can benefit from established cooperatives. Perhaps both sides can explore these opportunities together!
Kenkel, Phil. “Old Cooperatives and New Farmers.” Southern Ag Today 6(13.5). March 27, 2026. Permalink
