Research and technical assistance work are heart of Cooperative Services mission - Brief Article

Research on cooperatives is the root and cornerstone of the intellectual services provided to farmers, cooperatives and rural residents by the RBS Cooperative Services program of USDA Rural Development. A range of research activities relating to the economic, legal and social aspects of agricultural cooperatives provides farmers and their cooperatives with a more thorough understanding of the challenges they face in building and maintaining strong cooperative businesses. Research covers such diverse areas as finance, planning, commodity and product marketing, membership roles and relations, organization and governance, compensation, sales and management practices.

The outcomes and products of Cooperative Services research activities are targeted to several audiences, as well as internal uses in Cooperative Services' technical assistance, statistical, cooperative development, and educational activities assigned under the 1926 Cooperative Marketing Act. The first and primary audience is composed of farmers and cooperatives who benefit from using Cooperative Services research results and products within their own organizations. Other important audiences include public policy makers, academic researchers, nonprofit and trade associations and students.

Cooperative Services research projects are conducted by staff members on an individual and study-team basis. Most Cooperative Services staff are involved in various research projects as well as providing technical assistance to cooperatives. Research is frequently conducted in conjunction with landgrant universities through cooperative research agreements and other collaborative efforts. On occasion, research is also conducted in partnership or collaboration with other government agencies or trade associations. Cooperative Services staff are specialists in a diverse range of cooperative and product market areas, and are able to provide research on a wide variety of needs of the farm and cooperative community.

Cooperative Services research findings are disseminated in a variety of ways and methods. In addition to hard copy reports published by USDA, reports are posted on the Internet and staff members submit papers to various academic journals and make presentations before various professional associations. Research findings and products produced under cooperative research agreements with landgrant universities are disseminated through the routes mentioned above, as well as a vast array of university, extension service, and state publications and information systems.

Technical assistance

With its expertise in a broad range of subject matters, Cooperative Services staff can assemble highly effective teams to analyze and assist individual cooperatives in dealing with the unique circumstances they face. Cooperative Services provides a range of types of technical assistance to cooperatives. This technical assistance generally takes the form of business consulting services provided to cooperatives on a client basis.

Technical assistance includes special studies and well as various forms of training and facilitation of planning activities. Findings of studies become proprietary to the recipient organization. Use of the findings and recommendations provided through technical assistance is a private and wholly independent decision of the recipient as well.

Common types of technical assistance studies include merger analysis, operational reviews, comparative cost studies, member attitude studies, equity or capitalization plan reviews, product market development and assessment planning, and industry prospect assessments. Projects are initiated at the formal request of a cooperative or group of cooperatives and are carried out by Cooperative Services staff at no cost to the recipient group. While Cooperative Services technical assistance is used by a wide-range of sizes and types of cooperatives, a typical recipient of this service is a local cooperative that is not large nor sophisticated enough to employ staff or contract for complex business or financial analysis.

Because Cooperative Services research and technical assistance activities are tightly interwoven, information and expertise gained by staff members through research activities are directly applied in carrying out technical assistance. In turn, technical assistance helps identify emerging and crucial issues for research and can, with the permission of recipient groups, provide information and data for use in research projects.

These synergies don't end with technical assistance and research activities. Studies' findings and staff expertise are critical to the production of educational materials and programs produced by Cooperative Services and are an interactive part of the statistical analysis mandate of the Cooperative Marketing Act.

RELATED ARTICLE: Then and Now

The USDA Cooperative Services staff in 1926 and in 2001 -- the faces and styles have changed, but their goal remains the same: working to ensure a strong cooperative sector. Randall Torgerson, Deputy Administrator for RBS Cooperative Services, is at far left in bottom photo. While all of the women pictured in the 1926 photo were clerical staff, many of the women pictured in the current staff photo are economists, statisticians and education specialists. Top: USDA archival photo; Bottom: USDA photo by Dan Campbell

By John Dunn, Director
Cooperative Resources Management Division
USDA/RBS Cooperative Services

COPYRIGHT 2001 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Business - Cooperative Service
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