Owning our identity: Empowering cooperatives in rural America

Rural cooperatives are the backbone of this nation’s many critical infrastructure projects and provide essential services that people in the U.S. rely on to thrive.

Cooperatives are people-centered enterprises owned, controlled and run by and for their members to realize their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations. In the U.S., we have co-ops for electricity, crops, groceries, childcare, financial services, and many other necessities.

When I visit rural communities across this country, I see how USDA Rural Development is partnering with co-ops to foster economic growth through supporting local businesses, affordable homeownership, clean affordable energy, and keeping good-paying jobs in hometown communities, all key priorities of the Biden-Harris administration. 

The Biden administration and USDA invest in rural America because we know a strong community is rooted in its people. Rural people demonstrate that incredible strength when they work together to provide their communities with quality, essential services through cooperatives.

The cooperative business model is one that is trusted and time-tested to build economic power for members and communities.

In the U.S., there are more than 30,000 American cooperatives, which generate more than $700 billion in annual revenue and account for more than 2 million jobs.

Cooperatives are a sustainable business model evidenced by the fact that 23 percent of agricultural co-ops are more than 100 years old and 54 percent are more than 75 years old. 

That’s why every October, USDA Rural Development celebrates National Cooperative Month by sharing success stories and the resources we have available to champion cooperatives working tirelessly to provide essential goods and services across the country.

We work hard to empower rural people and organizations with the information they need to take full advantage of USDA Rural Development programs open to or specifically designed to support cooperatives. We support cooperatives through programs and activities like the Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program, Rural Economic Loan and Grant Program, Socially-Disadvantaged Group Grant Program and many others. In doing so, we help create and sustain economic prosperity in our rural communities.

These investments are critical to improving economic opportunity and advancing equity in America. USDA supports these important goals by partnering with rural electric cooperatives to install smart grid technologies, working with telecommunications cooperatives to connect people to high-speed internet, working through credit unions to provide access to capital for homeownership, business development, and many other projects. 

This year’s theme for Co-Op Month is “Owning Our Identity.” This theme reminds us that cooperatives are a unique business model governed by such social and ethical values as self-help, democracy, equity, solidarity, honesty and social responsibility. These values set co-ops apart from other business models, in that their purpose is not to simply generate profit, but to bring people together for the good of the entire community.

This theme also highlights the thousands of cooperative members in our country whose knowledge and participation are essential to each cooperative’s success. We encourage co-op members to embrace this autonomy by continuing their active civic engagement in their communities and we invite everyone to learn more through our cooperative resources by visiting our website.  

USDA will continue to create opportunities to help people in rural communities sustain, start, and expand cooperatives across the nation, because when rural people thrive, America thrives.

Karama Neal is administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service.