Cooperative businesses in Nebraska operate in marketing, farm supply, and service areas. The most common types are agricultural marketing and supply cooperatives.

Marketing cooperatives engage in a broad range of activities for farmer members including: bargaining, grading, transporting, processing, distribution, research, and product development. Marketing cooperatives derive at least half their business volume from the sale or processing of farm products.

Supply cooperatives provide farmers with production supplies and products such as fertilizer, agricultural chemicals, fuels and propane, seeds, feed, and others. Supply cooperatives also provide building supplies, packaging supplies, farm machinery and equipment, animal health products, automotive supplies, food, and hardware.

Service cooperatives provide specialized business services related to agricultural business operations of farmers, ranchers, or cooperatives such as trucking, storing, drying, artificial insemination, financing, electric and telephone services, communications, insurance, livestock marketing, and others.

 

COOPERATIVE MAPS AND FACT SHEET

The trend of cooperative convergence in Nebraska has been ongoing since the 1960s.  While the number of farmer-owned cooperatives in the state has declined over time, the remaining cooperatives are providing goods, services, and jobs in over 400 locations in Nebraska.  The items below depict cooperative locations in Nebraska and the impact cooperatives have on Nebraska’s economy.

• Cooperative Map as of 5.1.24 (base map includes cities only)
• Cooperative Map as of 5.1.24 (base map includes cities, counties and highways)
• NCC Fact Sheet Economic Impact of Nebraska’s Supply/Marketing Cooperatives (as of 5.1.24)

REGIONAL COOPERATIVES

In addition to the local cooperatives in many Nebraska communities, regional cooperatives also operate in Nebraska. They provide farm supplies at wholesale to local cooperatives, marketing and processing opportunities for crop and livestock production, services to local cooperatives and direct to owner-users, and other functions. Federated regional cooperatives are owned by the local cooperatives to which they provide services and/or farm supplies and marketing opportunities. Centralized regional cooperatives are owned directly by producers or their customers, while still other regionals are owned by a combination of individual customers and local cooperatives.

Regional cooperative members operating in Nebraska include:

• Ag Processing Inc
• Associated Milk Producers, Inc.
• CHS Inc.
• CoBank
• Dairy Farmers of America, Inc.
• Farm Credit Services of America
• Four Points Federal Credit Union
• Growmark, Inc.
• Land O’Lakes
• Producers Livestock Marketing Association
• Nebraska Rural Radio Association