More than 65 percent of all grain farmers were either members or nonmember patrons of marketing and/or farm supply cooperatives in 1980 and 1986. Other findings from analysis of the data include: a decrease in nonmember nonpatrons from 1980 to 1986 and an increase in the proportion of cash grain farmers holding cooperative membership. Also, cash grain farmers’ economic participation in cooperatives was often at the highest expenditure level, particularly through farm supply expenditures; and, in general, as farm size increased, a larger percent of cash grain farmers participated in cooperatives with the exception of farmers in the largest size classes. In 1980, cash grain farmers in the Northern Plains, Pacific, Northeast, Corn Belt, and Mountain regions had the largest proportion of farmers involved in cooperatives. In 1986, the Northern Plains, Mountain, Pacific, and Lake States had the largest proportion of cash grain farmers involved in cooperatives
