A Comparison of Traditional and Newly Emerging Forms of Cooperative Capitalization

This paper compares the traditional forms of capitalization used by American co-ops to newly emerging forms. It is based on an in-depth review of several case co-ops. A broad framework is provided that may be beneficial in more extensive studies of capitalization practices of cooperatives and similar organizations. It is divided into three parts. Part One outlines the alternative capitalization forms being used by cooperatives and their antecedents, where conversions to other structures and forms have occurred. Two basic capitalization forms have been used by cooperatives: traditional (open) and new generation (closed). Cooperatives using both forms have elected to add new capitalization features, such as use of publicly listed stock, or have elected to convert to different forms, such as an LLC or a C corporation. Several perceived advantages have motivated these changes besides the traditional advantages utilized by cooperative corporations, limited liability and single taxation. They include access to capital, liquidity and appreciability of stock. Part Two provides a brief description of the nature and experience of several modern cooperative organizations using the framework presented in Part One. The descriptions are based on in-depth case studies. The case study selections are from a broad cross-section of cooperatives that include the following: (1) Mid-Kansas Cooperative (traditional, centralized, local grain marketing and farm supply using only internally generated equity); (2) Land O'Lakes (traditional, centralized and federated, regional dairy marketing and processing and farm supply using only internally generated equity and registered debt financing); (3) CHS Cooperatives (traditional, primarily federated, regional grain marketing and processing and farm supply, with the recent addition of publicly listed preferred stock); and (4) U.S. Premium Beef (new generation, centralized, regional beef processing using closely held but tradeable common stock and proposal to convert to an LLC with member and non-member tradeable stock). In addition brief mention is made of other cooperatives including (5) Dakota Growers Pasta (new generation, centralized, regional durum wheat processing with recent conversion to C corporation); (6) South Dakota Soybean Processing (new generation, centralized regional soybean processing with conversion to LLC); (7) Pro-Fac and Birds Eye Foods (new generation centralized regional frozen vegetable processing with publicly listed stock and transition of processing entity, Birds Eye, to majority ownership by investor-oriented partner likely to exit through an IPO) and (8) Gold Kist (traditional, centralized regional poultry processing with proposed conversion to publicly traded C corporation). Part Three will briefly outline some of the challenges facing cooperatives in the future with reference to capitalization.Financial Economics, Agribusiness,

Price Effects from an Anticipated Meatpacking Plant Opening and Unexpected Plant Closing

Livestock producers primarily, but policy makers also, have an interest in market effects from meatpacking plant closings and openings. This article presents results from a study to determine price impacts from an anticipated hog slaughtering plant opening and an unexpected fed cattle slaughtering plant closing. The estimated price effects for each plant event were modeled with price difference and partial adjustment models. The plant opening resulted in higher absolute and relative hog prices in the Provincial market where the plant was located. However, adverse price impacts from the fed cattle plant closing were less evident.buyer competition, fed cattle, hogs, livestock prices, market dynamics, meatpacking, Demand and Price Analysis,

Structural Change and Performance of Grain Marketing Cooperatives

The U.S. grain marketing system has undergone many structural changes in the 1980s. In no part of the system has structural change been more far-reaching and extensive than in farmer-owned cooperatives. The purpose of this paper is to analyze changes in grain marketing and induced structural adjustments in grain marketing cooperatives at the local, regional, and interregional levels. The impact of these structural changes on the competitive posture of cooperatives in the grain marketing system is also discussed along with structural adjustments anticipated in the 1990s.Agribusiness,

THE CHANGING STRUCTURE OF THE UNITED STATES GRAIN MARKETING SYSTEM

Industrial Organization, Marketing,

Iced Out: How Immigration Enforcement Has Interfered with Workers’ Rights

[Excerpt] In recent years, however, our federal government’s approach to immigration enforcement has severely interfered with the protection of labor rights for immigrant workers. The single-minded focus on immigration enforcement without regard to violations of workplace laws has enabled employers with rampant labor and employment violations to profit by employing workers who are terrified to complain about substandard wages, unsafe conditions, and lack of benefits, or to demand their right to bargain collectively

Heterodon nasicus

Number of Pages: 10Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Consumer attitudes towards food safety risks associated with meat processing

A focus group study with 37 residents of Manhattan, Kansas, was conducted to examine consumers’ risk perceptions of foodborne illnesses from beef. The four focusgroup sessions were designed to determine (1) relative preferences for alternative combinations of public food safety (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), carcass pasteurization, irradiation) and private protection (home preparation of rare, medium, and well-done hamburgers); (2) how who is at risk (children vs. adults) influences preferences; (3) whether consumers would pay a premium for the higher levels of product safety arising from the adoption of three different innovations in processing plants; and (4) how to improve risk communication about foodborne illnesses and ways to protect against them. Although participants seemed aware of many food safety practices, misinformation and misconception also were found. The majority of the participants preferred well-done, steam-pasteurized or medium, irradiated hamburgers. For a 5-year-old child, the majority chose well-done, steampasteurized or well-done, irradiated hamburgers. Concerning willingness-to-pay, the majority of the participants preferred steam-pasteurized ground beef to regular ground beef when both were priced equally. Results indicated that new technologies available for food safety interventions provided a marginal value to participants. Participants also expressed a need for more information. --

Efforts to capture high amylose in rice

Screening of wild and cultivated rice in IRRI germplasm collection revealed that majority have intermediate apparent amylose content. It appears that ancient farmers selected rice based on texture of the lower amylose varieties, considering that the majority of rice consumers today prefer intermediate to soft-textured rice. Furthermore, 30% seems to be the natural upper natural limit of amylose levels in wild-type rice. If this is the case, the rich biodiversity of rice has been subjected to the bottleneck of domestication to select for grains that have superior cooking and eating but not nutritional or satiating qualities considering that the majority of rice consumers today eat rice three times a day. On the other hand, the amylose content of available rice mutants with deficient SBEIIb or an over-expressed GBSSI also revealed amylose levels of around 35% which is significantly lower by comparison with other high amylose cereals, whose amylose content ranges from 70–90%. Hence, to produce the high amylose phenotype in rice, one might need to target different sets of enzymes or regulatory pathways. Since increasing the amylose levels in rice might mean a concomitant increase in its resistant starch content and in its levels of satiety, and a decrease in its glycemic response, developing high amylose rice by biotechnology is imperative. This type of rice will be important not only in addressing the growing obesity epidemic which now also affects the developing countries but also as a basis of novel degradable biopolymers and for further elucidating the mechanisms of starch synthesis in the cereal endosperm. In this paper, we also present the status of our research project which aims to silence the expression of SBEIIa, SBEIIb and SSIIa singly or in combination using microRNA and RNAi silencing technologies with the aim of increasing the amylose levels in rice beyond its natural limits