MFU Partners with Co-ops for Customer Appreciation During Co-op Month

GREAT FALLS, MT (October 4, 2006) – To celebrate Co-op Month, Montana Farmers Union (MFU) staff will be traveling across the state to visit co-ops throughout the month of October. In conjunction with Mountain View Co-op, MFU staff will visit with patrons, and talk about current issues important to agriculture and ways that MFU can effectively help producers.

Beginning October 9, 2006, MFU Membership Director Jim Sargent and MFU Government Affairs Director Katie Kassmier will visit co-ops in the Golden Triangle area. The tentative schedule is below:

Monday, October 9: Dutton–morning; Brady–late morning; Conrad–afternoon

Tuesday, October 10: Fort Benton–morning; Big Sandy–afternoon; Rudyard–afternoon

Wednesday, October 11: Havre–morning; Chinook–late morning; Harlem–afternoon

Thursday, October 12: Lewistown–morning; Winifred–late morning; Geraldine–afternoon

Friday, October 13: Great Falls–morning

Cooperative businesses generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in income for their communities while also supporting local causes ranging from education to the environment, according to a series of case studies compiled to help mark October as National Co-op Month. Study highlights include these facts:

More than 3,000 farmer cooperatives account for more than 200,000 jobs nationwide and a total payroll of more than $8 billion.
Some 270 local, consumer-owned telecommunications cooperatives employ an average of 47 people each and generate more than $2 billion in revenues annually.

Cooperatives serve 130 million members, or four in 10 Americans, and fall into four categories: consumer, producer, worker and purchasing/shared services. Despite their diversity, co-ops have some things in common. They are owned and democratically controlled by the people who use their services or buy their goods. They are motivated by service to their members. These characteristics give co-ops an uncommon loyalty and commitment to the communities in which they are located.

It is this commitment to community that the Montana Farmers Union wishes to honor and celebrate during October – Co-op Month.

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