Cooperatives Contributing to the success of our communities
By Lindsey Lehman

Editor’s note: Lehman, a member of the Bolivar, Mo. FFA, won the FFA speaking contest at the 2007 Missouri Institute of Cooperatives. Here we print the speech she delivered for the contest, and as the winner, to the institute’s member banquet.

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom; it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief; it was the epoch of uncertainty. It was the season of light; it was the season of darkness. It was the spring of hope; it was the winter of despair.” This is part of the opening to a classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens. The story in the book takes place in 1775, the same time that early settlers were looking for ways to survive as a young and undeveloped country.

Cooperative efforts occurred amongst early settlers, trying to achieve objectives that could not be completed if they acted individually. Clearing of land and barn raisings required people to work together and cooperate with one another to achieve a common goal. Today, more than 39 million Americans enjoy the same values as those established by Benjamin Franklin when he started the first cooperative.

It was the age of foolishness and winter of despair: Many of the early settlers attempted to do land clearing and build their own houses and barns without any help. Many lived in less than desirable conditions. They lived in damp, cold conditions which caused many to become sick and die. Realizing the importance of working together, they soon found that by cooperating with one another, building went more quickly and improved their survival rate.

It was the age of wisdom: It didn’t take long before people could see the true benefit of joining together to form a cooperative. Today, in the United States, there are more than 40,000 cooperatives which provide a variety of goods and services to their members. Many of the cooperatives we think about are agricultural cooperatives. These are not restricted to agriculture. Cooperatives can be found in many different sectors of the economy including health care, utilities and housing to name a few. In Missouri, cooperatives serve more than a million members, employ 10,000 people and contribute significantly to our economic base. Cooperatives work because they are owned and operated by the people who use their services.

It was the epoch of uncertainty and season of darkness: How do you make a profit running costly power lines into sparsely populated rural areas to serve a handful of farms and businesses? The answer to this question became painfully obvious to rural people 70 years ago—you can’t. The lack of profit potential kept investor-owned utilities from extending lines into rural areas. Instead of waiting for these profit-minded companies to bring them service, rural people took matters into their own hands and formed the first electric cooperatives.

It was the epoch of belief: Traditional cooperatives operate on democratic principles with all members’ voices being heard. There is a “one member, one vote” standard which makes cooperatives different from all other types of businesses. If you pay your dues, or simply make a purchase from a particular cooperative, you become a member of that venture and have a say in the dealings of that cooperative. All members have a say regardless of how much they invest. Cooperatives are important community assets because they provide safety seminars and offer scholarships to the youth of the community, just to name a couple examples. Whether it is the local feed store, electric cooperative or telephone company, when members live in a community, the dollars spent in the cooperative stay in the business area and contribute to the success of that community. It is a winning situation for everyone.

It was the spring of hope: Even though traditional cooperatives have been around for many years, new ideas are cropping up—literally. New generation cooperatives retain some of the traditional cooperatives’ ideals such as: one member, one vote; an elected board of directors; and excess earnings distributed as patronage dividends. NGCs are a distinct kind of cooperative. They have a restricted membership based on a predetermined number of shares. Once these shares are all sold, there are no more members allowed. The major focus of NGCs is adding value to the commodity and selling to the final customer. NGC members act as producer and processor in one. NGCs are represented in Missouri by bio-fuel plants that produce and market their own product.

Through the best of times or through the worst of times, cooperatives have and will continue to prove their value within our communities and within our lives. Whether it is the traditional cooperatives or the new generation cooperatives, they DO make a difference today and will continue to help our communities thrive in the future.

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