A co-op is democratically-controlled enterprise, owned and run by its members. Whether the members are the customers, employees or residents they have an equal say in what the business does, and a share in the profits. Co-ops share common principles and act together to build a better world through co-operation. More than 800 million people around the world belong to cooperatives, and at least 100 million of them are employed by co-ops.

Cooperatives inject $3 trillion into the U.S. economy every year. Some examples of agriculture co-ops are coffee grower co-ops in Indonesia, grain elevator co-ops in the Midwest and the Ocean Spray producer-owned co-op. US housing cooperatives offer the more than one million families who live in them several benefits such as: a collective and democratic ownership structure. US electric cooperatives provide electric service at-cost to 42 million consumers in 47 states, approximately 12 percent of the electricity in the United States.

Agricultural cooperatives are organized to help farmers gain market power by joining together to market their crops, increase their bargaining power by achieving economies of scale, processing their commodity to add value, and/or to purchase supplies and services. Benefits and profits gained from the cooperative are distributed equitably to member-farmers on the basis of use of the cooperative.

Cooperatives are user-owned and user-controlled businesses and many of their products have been mainstream items on super-market shelves for more than a century.

California has approximately 200 agricultural cooperatives and there are more than 4,000 nationwide