Co-op 101: What is a cooperative?

About CHS

CHS is a global agribusiness owned by farmers, ranchers and cooperatives across the United States. Diversified in energy, agronomy, grains and foods, we’re committed to creating connections to empower agriculture, helping our owners and customers grow their businesses.

Our businesses

CHS offers a breadth of products and services to support our owners and customers every step of the way. Our practical solutions, local expertise and global connections give our farmer-owners and local cooperatives competitive advantages to reach their goals.

Stewardship

CHS is committed to making a meaningful impact in agriculture and rural America. Through our stewardship initiatives, we invest in programs that develop new generations of ag leaders, promote ag safety and strengthen hometown communities.

Cooperative value

Cooperatives are owned and governed by members who use its products, supplies, or services and operate in many sectors of the economy. In a cooperative system, people come together to scale buying power, gain access to goods and services and create economic opportunity.

Read more about cooperative value

Careers

At CHS, our teams work together to provide the products, services and expertise farmers and cooperatives need to feed a growing population. As a CHS employee, you help empower agriculture by creating connections that bring shared success.

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Co-op 101: What is a cooperative?

A cooperative and its grain bins with bright blue sky and green grass.

Agricultural cooperatives are owned by farmers and ranchers across rural America.

CHS is proud to be part of the cooperative system and the strength it brings to local communities.

Do you know what a co-op is? Here we break it down.

What is a cooperative? A cooperative is defined by USDA as a user-owned and controlled business from which benefits are derived and distributed equitably on the basis of use or as a business owned and controlled by the people who use its services.
Who determines policy? The CHS Board is made up of 17 member-owners, elected by the members.
How are profits distributed? The business is operated for a profit; it’s how the profit is divided that makes a co-op unique. Unlike most corporations where the profits are distributed to stockholders, co-ops distribute profits to member-owners on a patronage basis. Patronage is a method of sharing profits among the members. It is based on how much they purchase and the profitability of the co-op.
What kind of co-op system is CHS? CHS is a blended federated and centralized cooperative system. CHS is unique in that along with the federated system of member cooperatives, we also have Country Operations, made up of centralized retail locations dedicated to serve member-owners in their respective geographies. Along with member cooperatives, those member-owners of Country Operations locations vote for board members at the CHS annual meeting or are represented by delegates from their business unit at the annual meeting.

A chart depicting what kind of co-op system CHS is.

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