Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
A look at Wisconsin's farm cooperatives
Farmer co-ops in Wisconsin
Farm cooperatives have played an important part in Wisconsin's history. Cooperatives are businesses that are owned and controlled by the people who use and benefit from its services. Wisconsin's Scandinavian immigrants were particularly adept at forming cooperatives, bringing their experiences with them to Wisconsin's agricultural communities. Farmers began forming cooperatives to purchase bulk goods at lower prices and to market their products. Anne Pickett started the first co-op near Lake Mills in 1841, pooling milk from her neighbors' farms to make cheese that she sold to buyers in Milwaukee. The idea spread rapidly, and by the 1940s, Wisconsin rated second in the nation in the number of cooperative marketing and purchasing groups.
| Related Topics: |
Mining, Logging, and Agriculture Farming and Rural Life |
| Creator: | Bell, Florence C. |
| Pub Data: | St. Paul: St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives [1941] |
| Citation: | Bell, Florence C. (Florence Colfax), 1899- Farmer co-ops in Wisconsin St. Paul, Minnesota: St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives, [1941] ; Online facsimile at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/WI.FarmerCoops; Visited on: 5/8/2024 |
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