| Abstract |
Royer's paper explores hypothesized impacts of the "principles of cooperation" on the current practices
of voting, equity acquisition, and equity redemption in U.S. agricultural cooperatives. The author argues
that practicing traditional cooperative principles may lead to an increasingly incompatible conflict
between the investor-owned role, the user-owner role, and the user-patron role of a cooperative member.
The author examines inconsistencies and inequities among alternative cooperative philosophies and practices.
Subsequently, he concludes that he has found the solution - proportionality - a concept that calls for
the degree of control and benefits derived from an agricultural cooperative by a member to be directly related
(proportional) to the amount of risk incurred by the member in the form of equity provided.
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