The Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926 44 Stat. 802 (1926) was a piece of agricultural legislation passed in the United States which expanded upon the

Capper–Volstead Act Capper–Volstead Act (P.L. 67-146), the Co-operative Marketing Associations Act (7 U.S.C. 291, 292) was adopted by the United States Congress on February 18, 1922. It gave “associations” of persons producing agricultural products certain exem ...

of 1922. It allowed farmers to exchange “past, present, and prospective crop, market, statistical, economic, and other similar information” at their local

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

meeting, without breaking antitrust laws. Previously, under the Capper–Volstead Act, they had only been permitted to exchange pricing information. Under the Cooperative Marketing Act, farmers and their local, regional, and national cooperatives could legally exchange a host of information within their marketing systems. It was a critically important strategic authorization that enabled federated cooperative systems and marketing agencies-in-common to effectively function as coordinated entities. In addition, the Act created the Division of Cooperative Marketing within the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

to assist cooperatives in gathering and sharing data on output, prices, and demand. The Act also created the Cooperative Research and Service Division which conducted

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and service activities relating to problems of

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

, organization policies, merchandising,

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in ...

, costs,

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indiv ...

, and membership arising in connection with the cooperative marketing of agricultural products and the cooperative purchase of farm supplies and services. The Cooperative Marketing act was useful, but it was still not satisfactory to the

Farm Bureau The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), also known as Farm Bureau Insurance and Farm Bureau Inc. but more commonly just the Farm Bureau (FB), is a United States-based insurance company and lobbying group that represents the American agr ...

or other farm

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

groups. For farmers, an increase in available information to help cooperatives work together was no substitute for the

price floor A price floor is a government- or group-imposed price control or limit on how low a price can be charged for a product, good, commodity, or service. A price floor must be higher than the equilibrium price in order to be effective. The equilibrium p ...

on select

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...

s that they demanded. Demand for a price floor was steady, and culminated in the passage of the McNary-Haugen bills in 1927, and again in 1928, both which suffered the

veto A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...

of President Calvin Coolidge. More recently, " e Treasury Department and the IRS considered a similar but alternative definition of agricultural or horticultural products as agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, livestock and poultry, bees, forest products, fish and shellfish, and any products thereof, including processed and manufactured products, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and any processed or manufactured product thereof within the meaning of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, 60 Stat. 1091 (1946). While very similar to the definition set forth in these proposed rules, the Treasury Department and the IRS proposed using the definition based on the Cooperative Marketing Act of 1926, which specifically concerns cooperatives, unlike the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, which concerns the marketing and distribution of agricultural products."IRS proposed regulations (REG-118425-18). https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2019-11501.pdf

References

Cooperatives in the United States Agricultural marketing in the United States {{US-fed-statute-stub