The Economic Contribution of North Dakota Cooperatives to the North Dakota State Economy

Cooperatives are a vital component of the North Dakota economy. Owned by their customers or by privately-held firms, cooperatives provide a variety of goods and services to North Dakota. Based on data provided by the North Dakota Secretary of State, 332 businesses operating in North Dakota identified themselves as cooperatives in 2010; 256 are headquartered in the state. The economic contribution of the North Dakota cooperatives reaches beyond the local communities where they are headquartered. In 2010, the operations of electric, credit, farm supply and farm output marketing, and telecommunication cooperatives headquartered in North Dakota generated $3.5 billion of gross business sales. These sales led to secondary business volume of$2.1 billion. Hence, these 256 cooperatives made a total economic contribution to the state economy of $5.6 billion. The economic contribution of cooperatives is also comprised of jobs, labor income and tax revenue to the state. The 256 cooperatives featured in this study employ approximately 8,000 people on a full time basis in North Dakota. These employees were paid approximately$1.1 billion in wages and benefits. After the cost of goods sold, the principal expenditure of the cooperatives in North Dakota is employee compensation. The gross sales generated by the cooperatives, and the expenses generated by cooperative employee household spending generated an additional 17,000 full time jobs and $0.6 billion in wages and benefits in the North Dakota economy. Together, these activities generated a corporate, payroll and personal taxes contribution of$342 million to the state.Agribusiness, Financial Economics, Public Economics,

MODELING THE EFFECT OF SPATIAL EXTERNALITIES ON INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT

Changes in production conditions associated with biological invasions can be complex. As a result, modeling invasive species management decisions can be difficult. Modeling these decisions is further compounded by externalities associated with spatial relationships among growers. In order to calculate optimal management decisions, an accurate bioeconomic model of the feedback between grower decisions and the new biological interactions created by an invasive species population is needed. In this paper, a bioeconomic model is used to explicitly analyze how externalities caused by spatial relationships among agricultural producers affect optimal invasive species management decisions. The example of the coordinated greenhouse whitefly management in the Oxnard, CA, area is discussed. This is an interesting example because of the complex cycle of host crops used by the whitefly and the effect this cycle has on the optimal whitefly management decisions for strawberry growers. Three research objectives achieved in this paper include first, using the model to assess how the spatial relationship among growers affects incentives for regional invasive pest management. Second, analyze whether current policies could be adjusted to substitute for coordination among growers. Third, the use of the bioeconomic model to identify factors for this specific case that affect whether or not growers may voluntarily coordinate their management decisions. I find that spatial relationships among growers affect the need for coordination in the strawberry/whitefly case. Whitefly migrations across host crop fields require growers to manage the whitefly on a regional basis in order to maximize strawberry producer welfare. The results also indicate that the amount of effort needed to achieve coordination required is limited; the only requirement is that information related to field management be shared among growers of whitefly host crops. The results from the bioeconomic model describe the biological and economic feedback of the growers decision which allows policymakers to identify the willingness of producers to coordinate at various times of year. In the Oxnard strawberry/whitefly case, for example, growers will not find it optimal to adjust their application timing for a second immigration of adult greenhouse whiteflies when they occur near the end of the season, such as in May or June, but will for earlier points in the season. Three policy implications of the results from the strawberry/whitefly case are also discussed in the paper. First, adjustments to current policies regulating whitefly management do not remove the need for coordination among growers to them. Also, it was found that current policies do not, by themselves, generate the need for coordination. Finally, the results show it is not always necessary to create a central agency for regional invasive species management.Invasive species, strawberry, greenhouse whitefly, externality, optimal management., Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

The Financial Performance of North Dakota Grain Marketing and Farm Supply Cooperatives

The objective of this research is to assess the financial performance of North Dakota farm supply and grain handling cooperatives between 2002 and 2006. Audited financial statements from 120 cooperatives were used. Various financial variables are tested as determinants of profitability. Financial ratio analysis is used to observe trends in liquidity, solvency, and efficiency. Comparisons in ratio trends are made based on relative profitability. No statistical relationship is found between business size and profitability. The most profitable North Dakota agricultural input supply and grain marketing cooperatives were observed to have financial ratio values distinct from less profitable ones.Cooperative, agriculture, financial ratio, profitability, North Dakota, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance,

The Financial Performance of North Dakota Agricultural Cooperatives

Agricultural input supply and marketing cooperatives are an important part of North Dakota's agricultural economy. North Dakota agricultural cooperatives purchase and merchandise feed and food grains, maintain inventories of farm inputs, and provide specialized services. In 2004, 224 farm supply, agricultural processing, and grain handling cooperatives were present in the state (Coon and Leistritz 2005). These include independent local cooperatives and those affiliated with federated cooperatives. The objective of this research is to assess the financial performance of North Dakota agricultural input supply and grain handling cooperatives between 2002 and 2006. In section one, the characteristics of a cooperative business and how this relates to the financial benefits a cooperative provides are described. In section two, cooperative businesses features affecting financial performance are described. In section three, data and methods used in this analysis are presented. In section four, the results are presented and discussed. Section five presents concluding remarks. The results of this analysis suggest no statistical relationship between North Dakota agricultural cooperative profitability and business size. There were consistent differences in investment behavior between relatively profitable and less profitable agricultural input supply and grain handling cooperatives in North Dakota between 2002 and 2006.Agribusiness,

Data Aggregation and Information Loss

Analysts often use a single average or otherwise aggregated price series to represent several geographic or product markets even when disaggregate data are available. We hypothesize that such an approach may not be appropriate under some circumstances, such as when only long-term relationships hold among price series or when homogeneous but relatively perishable products are considered. This question is of particular relevance in agriculture because of seasonality in production and harvest across various production regions, and the effect of changes in demand as substitute crops become available. We analyze this question in the context of fresh strawberry production. We find that in the case of the strawberry market, aggregate series are appropriate for long-term decision analysis, but some information loss occurs when conducting short-term decision analysis.strawberry, price, cointegration, Granger causality, average price, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

North American Bison Cooperative and North Dakota Natural Beef LLC: Governance of a Contractual Alliance

In 2005, North American Bison Cooperative formed a contractual alliance with North Dakota Natural Beef, LLC. The alliance was formed in order to enable the cooperative to enhance returns from its physical and managerial assets by entering the natural beef market. This case describes the resources shared by the cooperative and LLC, how the alliance was governed, the risk of opportunism by the CEO and associated trust building and control mechanisms, and the benefits cooperative members received. Although the two companies operate under different business principles, cooperative members exercise indirect control over the resources they contribute to the venture.Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

Cass-Clay Creamery: A New Direction for an Old Brand

Consolidation and industrialization are increasingly important factors affecting the level of membership in cooperative businesses. This article presents information about the development of the dairy industry in North Dakota and its effect on Cass- Clay Creamery, a farmer-owned dairy cooperative. Students are asked to analyze decisions about branding and being acquired by another larger cooperative.Dairy, cooperative, acquisition, North Dakota, Cass-Clay, AMPI, Agribusiness,

Governance Structures and the Value of the Firm: The Case of Great Lakes Cooperative and Green Plains Renewable Energy

In early 2007, Great Lakes Cooperative\u27s (hereafter GLC) board of directors and CEO held meetings with its membership to lay out the terms of a merger agreement with—a sale to, rather—Green Plains Renewable Energy (hereafter GPRE). The agreement was the result of months of discussions between representatives from GLC, a farmer-owned grain and farm supply cooperative, and GPRE, an investor-owned ethanol producer. What would ultimately lead to the merger of the two companies began as discussions about grain origination for GPRE\u27s ethanol plant

MODELING THE EFFECT OF SPATIAL EXTERNALITIES ON INVASIVE SPECIES MANAGEMENT

Changes in production conditions associated with biological invasions can be complex. As a result, modeling invasive species management decisions can be difficult. Modeling these decisions is further compounded by externalities associated with spatial relationships among growers. In order to calculate optimal management decisions, an accurate bioeconomic model of the feedback between grower decisions and the new biological interactions created by an invasive species population is needed. In this paper, a bioeconomic model is used to explicitly analyze how externalities caused by spatial relationships among agricultural producers affect optimal invasive species management decisions. The example of the coordinated greenhouse whitefly management in the Oxnard, CA, area is discussed. This is an interesting example because of the complex cycle of host crops used by the whitefly and the effect this cycle has on the optimal whitefly management decisions for strawberry growers. Three research objectives achieved in this paper include first, using the model to assess how the spatial relationship among growers affects incentives for regional invasive pest management. Second, analyze whether current policies could be adjusted to substitute for coordination among growers. Third, the use of the bioeconomic model to identify factors for this specific case that affect whether or not growers may voluntarily coordinate their management decisions. We find that spatial relationships among growers affect the need for coordination in the strawberry/whitefly case. Whitefly migrations across host crop fields require growers to manage the whitefly on a regional basis in order to maximize strawberry producer welfare. The results also indicate that the amount of effort needed to achieve coordination required is limited; the only requirement is that information related to field management be shared among growers of whitefly host crops. The results from the bioeconomic model describe the biological and economic feedback of the grower's decision which allows policymakers to identify the willingness of producers to coordinate at various times of year. In the Oxnard strawberry/whitefly case, for example, growers will not find it optimal to adjust their application timing for a second immigration of adult greenhouse whiteflies when they occur near the end of the season, such as in May or June, but will for earlier points in the season. Three policy implications of the results from the strawberry/whitefly case are also discussed in the paper. First, adjustments to current policies regulating whitefly management do not remove the need for coordination among growers to them. Also, it was found that current policies do not, by themselves, generate the need for coordination. Finally, the results show it is not always necessary to create a central agency for regional invasive species management.Invasive species, strawberry, greenhouse whitefly, externality, optimal management, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,