Cooperative federation

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives.[1] Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of

International Co-operative Alliance notes that “Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.”[3]

Retail

According to co-operative economist

Co-operative Group
.

Co-operative union

A second common form of co-operative federation is a co-operative union, whose objective (according to Gide) is “to develop the spirit of solidarity among societies and... in a word, to exercise the functions of a government whose authority, it is needless to say, is purely moral.”

International Co-operative Alliance
are examples of such arrangements.

Banking

See also: Cooperative banking, Credit union, History of credit unions, and European Association of Co-operative Banks

Agriculture

Regional

agricultural co-operatives, such as Land O'Lakes and the former Farmland Industries, are co-operative federations owned by local farmers' co-operatives. Like the Co-operative Group (above), Land O'Lakes is actually a hybrid of a primary and secondary co-operative.[4]

Co-operative party

In some countries with strong co-operative sectors, such as the UK, co-operatives have organized parliamentary political parties to represent their interests. The British Co-operative Party is an example of such an arrangement.

Other uses

Co-operatives whose member owners are businesses, such as

retailers' co-operatives, are sometimes called secondary co-operatives, even when their members are not themselves co-operatives.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "How to set up a Secondary Co-operative" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-20. Retrieved 2008-05-27. A secondary co-operative is a co-operative business democratically controlled by its members, all of whom are themselves co-operatives and share certain aims or values in common. The secondary co-operative can be a way for these co-operatives to do things that help achieve their aims that they would not be able to do by themselves. Secondary co-operatives have been used in a number of sectors already – Credit Unions, Housing Co-operatives and Social Change Co-operatives for example.
  2. ^
    ISBN 1-116-75261-1
  3. International Co-operative Alliance
    .
  4. ^ Phil Kenkel; Amy Hagen (2004). "Impact of the Farmland Bankruptcy on Oklahoma Cooperatives" (PDF). via Kansas State University. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 1, 2006. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  5. ^ "What is a co-operative?". Wales Co-operative Centre.
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