Worker-owned Cooperative farms

The word “cooperative” is often applied to many different types of collaborative projects. But in the state of Oregon, a business must register as a cooperative corporation to call itself a cooperative. One of the defining characteristics of a cooperative as opposed to a traditional corporation is that ownership of the business lies in the hands of its members, not with stakeholders. 

This distinction is also in the purpose and accountability of a cooperative. Whereas traditional corporations exist to produce wealth for shareholders and are accountable to shareholders, cooperatives exist to serve the needs of their members and are accountable to their membership. They are governed by a member-elected board of directors. Another critical distinction is in voting rights. Whereas traditional corporations allocate voting rights according to number of shares owned, co-ops operate on a one-member, one-vote basis.

how do these principles work in the context of a farm?

We know your farm likely doesn’t operate like a traditional corporation. So how do cooperative principles change the way a farm is run?

Unlike farms that are operated as sole proprietorships or partnerships, a worker co-op farm will be owned by most or all of the farmers that work on it. Decisions are made democratically according to a system decided upon by the worker-owners. Profit is shared according to patronage—in the case of a farm co-op, this would be how many hours a member-owner worked on the farm over the course of the year.

Having more people at the drivers seat brings many added benefits, as well as complications. More expertise means more minds thinking through challenges and potential solutions. During the start-up phase, it means more people to pool capital and resources. Some worker co-op farms report a huge benefit in being able to take more time away from the farm and trusting that their co-owners are just as invested as they are in keeping the operation running smoothly in their absence.

However, co-ops require a greater amount of communication and intention. Regular meetings—even during the busiest days of summer—are necessary to make sure all member-owners are on the same page. Being a co-op does not change the fact that farming is hard work, and can add a complicating layer of balancing that hard work with the equally difficult work of good communication.

How does a worker-owned co-op differ from other types of co-ops?

In other chapters of our Collaborative Farming Library, we discussed marketing cooperatives and purchasing cooperatives. You might also be familiar with consumer co-ops like cooperative grocery stores. Whereas a marketing or purchasing cooperative might be owned by several disparate farm businesses that band together to market and distribute their products, and a consumer co-op is owned by the customers, a worker cooperative is owned and operated by all its individual member farmers. 

This means a worker cooperative farm embarks upon a project that is collaborative at a very fundamental level. Employee-owners work cooperatively to make decisions about how the farm business will be run. This does not mean that there cannot be hierarchy—a worker cooperative farm can have management structures and not every decision on the farm will require the input of every member. Each cooperative writes bylaws that dictate how the business will operate and what decision-making systems members will use. 

There is a wide breadth of information out there about how to set up a worker-owned cooperative. Below you’ll find some of the resources we feel will be most helpful to a group of farmers interested in establishing a worker-owned farm. 

resources for worker-owned cooperatives