The Future is Cooperative: The Power of Cooperatives to Shape Rural Mississippi
Dr. Trina N. George, State Director for USDA Rural Development in Mississippi
Rural cooperatives are the backbone of our nation and provide countless goods and services that people in rural Mississippi rely onto thrive.
This month, USDA has been celebrating our long-standing partnership with rural cooperatives as we honor the Department’s 60th anniversary of National Cooperative Month.
Cooperatives, however, have existed throughout the U.S. for more than a century. They are businesses owned and controlled by the people who use them. They differ from other businesses because they operate for the benefit of their members, rather than to earn profits for investors.
Cooperatives are a trusted, democratic, time-tested business model that builds local wealth for their members and communities. Organized to meet the economic needs of its member-owners, a cooperative is a particularly resilient business model and embodies the concept of self-help.
As I’ve traveled across rural parts of the state, I have met with cooperative members who are civically engaged, passionate individuals. They are eager to contribute to the health and vitality of their communities. I have seen how cooperatives filled market gaps by expanding access to health care, childcare, energy and many critical needs of a community.
It has also given me great pride to witness firsthand how USDA Rural Development has partnered with cooperatives to foster economic growth by supporting local businesses, affordable homeownership, clean affordable energy, and good-paying jobs in our communities—all key priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration.
In fact, since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA has invested more than $17 billion in loans and grants to spur economic development, catalyze rural prosperity and advance equity through rural cooperatives.
Over the years, we’ve supported cooperatives through programs and resources such as the Rural Economic Loan and Grant Program, Value-Added Producer Grant Program, Socially Disadvantaged Group Grant Program, Electric Loan Program, and our Rural Energy for America Program.
https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/all-programs/cooperative-services
For example, the Mississippi Minority Farmers Alliance in northeast Mississippi applied for funding through our Socially Disadvantaged Group Grant program, which they will use to assist small socially disadvantaged groups with developing farm business plans, strategic planning and outreach activities, and leadership development to enhance agricultural services and enterprises in six counties, benefitting over 75 producers and serve as a model for similar organizations in the region.
The Cottonseed Co-op Corporation, whose members take raw cotton seed and transform it into cottonseed oil, meal, and hulls, used a Business and Industry Loan Guarantee to refinance operations and save money by lowering their interest rate and reducing their annual debt service obligations.
Singing River Electric Power Association received $2 million in funding through our Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant program that will allow the Mississippi Export Railroad, a shortline railroad that operates in the Lucedale co-operative’s service area, to build a new rail shop in Moss Point. Previously, electrical cooperatives like the Tallahatchie Valley Electric Power Association have used our ReConnect Program funding to deploy high-speed internet service.
In the face of adversity, people in rural areas demonstrate incredible strength and fortitude when they work together to provide their communities with quality, essential services through cooperatives.
For example, in the early 1900s, farmers joined together to form the nation’s first electric cooperatives when investor firms were not incentivized to bring electricity to rural America.
Rural electric co-ops now power 56% of the American landscape, serving 42 million people, including 92% of persistent poverty counties.
Thanks to the combination of federal funding and cooperative ingenuity, 90% of America acquired electricity in a mere 15 years from 1935 to 1950.
This year, National Cooperative Month, comes on the heels of President Biden’s historic announcement of more than $7.3 billion in financing for rural electric cooperatives to build clean energy for rural communities through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program.
Together, New ERA and other investments in rural clean energy in the President’s Inflation Reduction Act make up the largest investment in rural electrification and in electric cooperatives since the 1936 Rural Electrification Act.
Beyond serving as a powerhouse for clean, affordable energy, cooperatives provide almost every service imaginable including agricultural, utility, purchasing, food and grocery, housing, childcare, retail and financial services.
There are more than 30,000 American cooperatives, which generate more than $700 billion in annual revenue and account for more than 2 million jobs.
Cooperatives are a sustainable model evidenced by the fact that 24% of agricultural co-ops are more than 100 years old and 77% are more than 50 years old.
In Mississippi, we work hard to empower rural people and organizations to take full advantage of USDA Rural Development programs specifically designed to support cooperatives. In doing so, we help create and sustain economic prosperity in our rural communities.
That’s why, each year during October, USDA Rural Development celebrates National Cooperative Month by sharing success stories and the resources we have available to champion cooperatives across the country.
This year’s theme for the month-long celebration is “The Future is Cooperative,” acknowledging the unique and essential role cooperatives play in providing clean, affordable energy, increasing economic opportunities and improving the quality of life for people in rural America.
This theme also helps us envision a more cooperative future in Mississippi, across the country and around the world.
Furthermore, we are already looking ahead to 2025. The United Nations recently declared 2025 as the International Year of Cooperatives and will celebrate the many ways cooperatives address global and systemic challenges.
Here in Mississippi, we’ve been bringing our offices directly to customers with our Buy It, Build It, Fix It outreach sessions, and with regular meetings with members of our Rural Partners Network Community Networks. Local cooperatives have been outstanding partners to us, and we rely on them to help spread the word about our programs and outreach events.
We are proud to continue partnering with cooperatives here in rural Mississippi as they serve their members’ needs, shape their economic future, and create opportunities for rural prosperity. This work is important, because when rural people thrive, America thrives.
To learn more about resources available for cooperatives, visit USDA Rural Development Cooperative Services or call our USDA Rural Development local state office at 601) 965-4316.