By Jen Banks
The USA’s National Cooperative Bank has released its annual NCB Co-op 100, listing the nation’s 100 top earning co-operative businesses.
This year, agricultural co-ops take the top three spots, with CHS Inc. from Minnesota at number one once again after reporting $31.9bn in revenues in 2017. Dairy Farmers of America and Land O’Lakes Inc take second and third place with revenues of $14.7bn and $13.7bn respectively.
The top 10 features co-ops from the grocery, healthcare, finance, hardware and lumber sectors – with Wakefern Food Corporation/Shoprite in fourth place, reporting $12.9bn in revenues; HealthPartners Inc. in the number seven spot, earning $6.6bn; Navy Federal Credit Union at number eight with $6bn in revenues, and ACE Hardware Corp., earning $5.4bn and coming at number nine.
The only annual report of its kind – tracking the profits and successes of co-ops in the US – is released in October during the USA’s National Co-op Month. The theme of this year’s Co-op Month is ‘Cooperatives See the Future’ and the report looks at the future visions of several co-ops, and asks how they can better serve their members and the communities.
The report shows that, while the companies and rankings change each year, the co-operative sector continues to advance, playing an increasingly influential role in the national and global economy.
“The economic impact of co-operatives is critical to our economy,” said Charles Snyder, president and CEO of National Cooperative Bank. “Co-operatives can be seen in just about every industry across America, including local food, finance, housing and energy. Whether it’s bringing affordable home ownership through a housing co-operative, fresh local food through a food co-op or electricity through a rural electric co-op, co-operatives strengthen communities.”
-ICA (Coop News)