During this harvest season, I have been reflecting on the value cooperatives bring to rural America and agriculture. As we celebrate Co-op Month in October and near completion of 2025, the Year of the Cooperative as designated by the United Nations, we join communities around the world who benefit from stability and resilience enabled by working with cooperatives.
I grew up in the cooperative system. My father was a leader in our local co-op and some of my earliest memories include counting nails and other hardware as part of taking annual inventory at the co-op. While that was a small task for a small boy, it made me part of our local cooperative’s service to its farmer-owners.
As I took over management of our family farm, I relied on cooperatives for products, services and expertise. Today, because I am part of a co-op connected with CHS, when I send my grain off to market, I know I am connected to a world of opportunities with a company focused on creating value for its owners. That’s the cooperative difference.
Cooperatives were built on the principle of doing more together than one person can do alone. This collective strength has powered agriculture for generations and has long been an economic and stewardship engine for rural America.
As the nation’s largest farmer-owned cooperative, CHS has for generations brought value through patronage back to our owners and their communities. When intended cash returns to owners are complete in 2026, CHS will have returned nearly $2.6 billion to our owners over the previous five years. Those dollars are then reinvested by CHS owners to strengthen rural communities.
A fixture in rural America for nearly a century, CHS is also investing for the future – in facilities that will serve farm and ranch families for decades to come and bring quality jobs and economic viability to communities to keep them strong. A co-op brings that long-term thinking because it is created for farmers, by farmers.
Today, U.S. farmers and ranchers face many challenges with shifts in global demand for the commodities we produce, volatile weather, changing policy and more. As we look to the future for our families and the farms and ranches we operate, being cooperative owners will continue to help us navigate those challenges together.
I am grateful for the vital role cooperatives have played in my life and in communities across rural America and across the globe. Cooperatives truly help build a better world.
