TY - JOUR AU - Hardesty, Shermain D. AU - Salgia, Vikas D. TI - Most West Coast agricultural cooperatives are financially competitive JF - California Agriculture JO - Calif Agr Y1 - 2007/10/01 VL - 61 IS - 4 SP - 172 EP - 176 PB - University of California Agriculture and Nature Resources SN - 0008-0845 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3733/ca.v061n04p172 L3 - 10.3733/ca.v061n04p172 AB - Agricultural producers and lenders have expressed concerns about the highly publicized financial difficulties experienced by some agricultural cooperatives. This study analyzes the comparative financial performance of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in four sectors: fruits and vegetables, dairy, farm supply and grain. Standard financial ratios measuring profitability, liquidity, leverage and asset efficiency were analyzed for 1991 through 2002. The overall financial performance of cooperatives on the West Coast was on par with that of similar investor-owned firms.