[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 6, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL COOPERATIVE MONTH

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                            HON. JERRY MORAN

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 6, 1999

  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure today 
that I rise to join my colleagues in supporting National Co-op Month. 
Across Kansas and across the country, cooperatives form the economic 
backbone of many communities. Co-ops provide power, purchase the 
agriculture products, add value to the farmer and rancher, and allow 
individuals to join together in their local communities.
  Across the country, over 70 million people belong to some type of 
cooperative. Since Ben Franklin formed the first co-op in 1752, co-ops 
have operated with three basic principles: user ownership, user 
control, and user benefits. It is with those three principles that 
individuals can work together to add value and compete in a world where 
mergers and concentration are often the stories of the day.
  In Kansas, farmers and ranchers have joined in innovative cooperative 
projects aimed at moving them from being producers, to being processors 
and providers of wholesome food products in the grocery store. Kansas' 
21st Century Alliance has taken risks to move farmers into grain 
processing, beef processing, high-volume dairying, and even dry-edible 
bean processing. All of these ventures have been cooperatives, allowing 
producers ownership, control, and, hopefully, the benefits.
  The challenge for Congress is to support and encourage more 
opportunities for farmers and ranchers to add value and gain a greater 
portion of the food dollar. Cooperatives provide that opportunity, and 
I look forward to pursuing new ways to assist cooperatives as they grow 
and advance on behalf of their member-owners.
  Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in congratulating cooperatives on 
their first century and a half, and wish cooperatives success in these 
and other ventures for the next century.




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