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Current Research
Dairy Pricing Research
UWCC and the UW Center for Dairy
Profitability are implementing a USDA Agriculture and Food Research
Initiative grant program to research geographic pricing and competitive
issues in the dairy industry. The aim of this research is to determine the
influence of distance, presence of cooperatives and farm-level heterogeneity
on milk prices. The program will develop a model to characterize and
measure market power where cooperative and non-cooperative buyers compete
for farmers' output. By collecting farm-level price data, the team will be
able to provide farmers with benchmark reports that compare prices between
nearby farms.
U.S. Census Project
UWCC staff are developing models for identifying cooperatives and
their performance. The aim is enable annual reporting on the economic
footprint of cooperative businesses, and to enable richer analysis of their
behavior and year-to-year performance. Researchers will be able to compare
cooperatives on national, state and local levels and provide a snapshot of
key economic indicators such as wages, assets and revenues. This research
will inform and provide recommendations to the U.S. Census Bureau of the
importance and need for reporting on the economy-wide impact of cooperative
businesses.
Annual Cooperative Business Survey
UWCC staff has developed the Annual Cooperative Business Survey
program,
which gathers basic annual financial data from cooperative firms, including
patronage equity and refund practices. The results of the survey,
implemented through financial support and collaboration from the National
Society of Accountants for Cooperatives, will provide a baseline for
understanding financial management across cooperatives sectors. This
research is part of an ongoing initiative to evaluate cooperative behavior
and performance.
2014 Annual Cooperative
Business Survey Final Report
2013 Annual
Cooperative Business Survey Final Report
Recent Research
Research on the Economic Impact of Cooperatives: Phase I
The cooperative ownership model is used in a wide variety of contexts in
the United States. Until this project, no comprehensive set of
national-level statistics had been compiled about U.S. cooperative
businesses.
Through funding from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and matching support from the National Cooperative Business
Association and its members, and the State of Wisconsin’s Department of
Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, the Center conducted a census
of the U.S. cooperative movement quantifying the
magnitude of economic activity accounted for by U.S. cooperative businesses.
For the project report, visit the project website.
For state summaries based on project data, click
here.
Research on Economic Impact of U.S. Cooperatives Phase II
This project, which is on-going, builds on the work in Phase I by
initiating a longitudinal survey of cooperative business that will sustain
research on cooperatives beyond the period of the grant.
Additionally, we have submitted a research proposal for access to
data maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau that covers all U.S.
businesses. Access to these data will enable research on a variety of
specific research topics, and allow continued reporting on the
economy-wide impact of cooperative business.
Cooperative Governance, Behavior, and Performance
The aims of this research project are to: (1) generate hypotheses regarding
differential governance practices across cooperative and investor-owned firms;
(2) test for and measure these differences among firms in the food and
agricultural sector of the U.S. economy; and (3) evaluate the effects of these
differences on the behavior and performance of cooperative firms. This research
will generate important new insights regarding the means to effective governance
in cooperatives.