Rural Business Cooperatives Can Help

Looking for new collaborative approaches to tackle stubborn economic development problems in rural areas? Consider a business coperative. Many exist across the country. They allow farm and agri-businesses to work together and build a competitive advantage. Sound like an industry cluster? It has some of the same attributes. Cooperatives have been around a long time.

Take a look at what the Iowa Quality Beef Supply Cooperative is doing. 875 beef producers are working together to increase their competitive advantage in the highly competitive beef market. They are using a newly retrofitted plant in Tama, Iowa to produce beef product for the market. One lesson to learn here is how to get that many farmers to work together. Herding farmers is a lot harder than herding cattle.

For more information about the Iowa cooperative and others, click here.