You Are the Co-op Difference

You are the reason food co‑ops are here

You help create a robust local economy

You help grow a healthier environment

You help to tackle food waste

You help bring people together

You help to nurture community

You help to grow fair trade business

You help to support sustainable solutions

October is National Cooperative Month, give yourself a big thank you for making it happen!

Fun Facts about Co-ops

·       There are more than 29,000 co-ops in the United States with Americans holding 350 million co-op memberships.

·       U.S. co-ops provide over 2 million jobs and create about $75 billion in annual wages with combined revenue of nearly $653 billion.

·       Almost 2 million farmers are members of the various 2,106 agricultural cooperatives in the U.S. They create over 191,300 jobs and the top 100 largest farmer co-ops have a combined annual revenue of $176 billion.

·       Credit unions provide financial services to over 100 million members in the U.S. and provide 275,000 jobs.

·       More than 900 electric co-ops deliver electricity to more than 18 million homes, schools and businesses in 47 states. This makes up 42% of the nation's electric distribution lines and covers 75% of our country's land mass.

·       Five of the top ten largest insurance companies are co-ops, serving 25% of the U.S. market.

·       Food co-ops have been innovators in the areas of unit pricing, consumer protection, organic and bulk foods, and nutritional labeling. They also have significant environmental and social benefits compared to conventional grocers. Learn more.

·       There are over 1,000 childcare co-ops in the U.S., childcare costs can be reduced up to 85% by cooperative daycares.

·       About 1.2 million rural Americans in 31 states are served by the 260 telephone cooperatives.

·       Over 1.5 million people live in cooperative housing.

·       The .coop web address extension has been adopted by thousands of co-ops and while many cooperatives may use .com or other domain extensions, when you see .coop, you can be sure that it's a cooperative. For more information, visit www.coop.

·       How do co-ops impact the economy? Check out the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives' research on the Economic Impact of U.S. Cooperatives and the Hoffer Report (summary) to see the impact co-ops have in Northwestern New England.