Other Ag News: Cooperatives and Public Service: Honoring USDA Cooperative Services Branch Chief Jim Wadsworth

To mark Co-op month, we honor James Wadsworth, the USDA Cooperative Services Branch Chief. Jim has been the caretaker of the Agricultural Cooperative Statistics program, which provides aggregated data on and to the agricultural co-op community. This time series is 100 years old and allows cooperatives to compare operations to others in the industry. The annual Top 100 list of the country’s largest cooperatives is derived from this data, giving a snapshot of how cooperatives can scale and still be democratically controlled by members while providing benefits and support to their individual farm operations.