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Voice of experience: co-ops are resilient.

Article Excerpt
Editor's note: this article is reprinted courtesy the Capital Press, which covers agriculture in California and the Northwest United States. Yates is that publication's Washington state staff writer. He can be contacted at: syates@capitalpress.com.

The question itself was revealing, but according to Dennis Boiling, the answer is: "Yes, cooperatives do have a future."

Speaking at the Joint Northwest Co-op Council's annual meeting in Post Falls, Idaho, the president and chief executive officer of United Producers with headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, said anybody wanting to investigate the future of cooperatives should think about shutting down. That's what happened to his company.

"If your co-op closed tomorrow, would your members start it up again?" he asked the roomful of cooperative directors and managers.

He related the saga of the Midwest livestock cooperative that got caught in a ponzi (pyramid) scheme, which resulted in $140 million worth of damages. The house of cards involved individuals showing banks duplicate cattle inventory as part of receiving financing.

Two banks lost over $50 million. The cooperative lost $12 million. And that doesn't count the "boatload" spent on attorneys during litigation.

"We were rocking and rolling with litigation," Boiling said. "I was a little overwhelmed when I came on the board. How do you...