DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


a year on commodity loans, 3 per cent on operating loans,
and 4 per cent on physical facility loans.

 The survey also shows that about 5,900 farmers' mar-
keting and purchasing cooperatives, or slightly more than
half the total number in the United States, use credit for
their operations. The largest amount of borrowed money
used at any time in 1936-the last year embraced by the
survey-aggregated $314,553,000.

 While commercial banks are the largest creditors of
farmers' associations, the business volume of the Banks for
Cooperatives has grown steadily during the past 4 years and
now occupies second place. In 1936 cooperatives using com-
mercial banks as a principal source of credit, borrowed a
total of $124,114,000; those using Banks for Cooperatives as
a principal source, $81,711,000; other cooperative organiza-
tions, $12,473,000; individuals, $13,328,000; and the remaining
amount from miscellaneous sources.


 Patronage dividends returned to farmers in 1936 ex-
ceeded 25 million dollars.

 *
 Total assets of cooperatives exceed a half billion dollars.
Of this amount, members have invested $287,860,000.

 *
 Farmers' mutual fire insurance companies represent the
oldest form of cooperative activity among farmers in this
country. However, more than 2,000 of the marketing and
purchasing associations have been operating continuously
for more than 25 years.

 *
 Purchasing associations have made the most rapid
growth during the past 5 years.