>Farming cooperatives can be very capital intensive.
The farms are capital intensive but the separate entity that forms the cooperative is less capital intensive. E.g. building the local co-op grain storage bin that farmers contribute to will cost less than the millions it takes to build a polished app like Uber/Lyft.
Or did you have something else in mind when you meant farm co-ops are capital intensive?
>There's nothing saying the cooperative cannot have revenue bonds, notes payable as a percentage of revenue.
True but bonds don't exist in a vacuum and must compete with other alternative investments including other bonds by other businesses/governments.
Certain financial aspects of the co-op bond (regional business is lower revenue than national Uber, higher risk premium than Apple/Microsoft bonds, lower Moody's credit rating, etc) ... are less appealing to bond buyers which then lowers the amount of capital to the co-op. Just because a company has a "bond offering" doesn't automatically mean investors will line up to buy them.
E.g. and using the failed RideAustin example above... if they hypothetically offered bonds in 2017, your coupon payment would be $0 right now.
Whatever financial "solution" one comes up with for co-ops, one still has to account for behaviors of all the other economic actors in the system.
> Or did you have something else in mind when you meant farm co-ops are capital intensive?
I disagree with your characterization: it's the potential sharing of capital expenditures (for storage, processing, distribution and advertising) that drives cooperation. In many cases these costs are far more than software-based services. Cooperatives of this nature often have significant capital contributions required for membership.
> True but bonds don't exist in a vacuum and must compete with other alternative investments including other bonds by other businesses/governments.
Agreed. I would note our current legal environment makes it challenging for cooperatives to raise capital since most of their potential contributors, who see the community "main street" value, are effectively prevented from becoming investors, even if they are willing to do so. Retail investors have their arms twisted (401k) to put their savings into the stock market... rather than into main street. Moreover, since they are not often SEC qualified investors, they are prevented from investing even if they wish to do so. There are some limited exceptions for local organizations, but these rules are hard to navigate. These barriers to capital should be addressed.
The farms are capital intensive but the separate entity that forms the cooperative is less capital intensive. E.g. building the local co-op grain storage bin that farmers contribute to will cost less than the millions it takes to build a polished app like Uber/Lyft.
Or did you have something else in mind when you meant farm co-ops are capital intensive?
>There's nothing saying the cooperative cannot have revenue bonds, notes payable as a percentage of revenue.
True but bonds don't exist in a vacuum and must compete with other alternative investments including other bonds by other businesses/governments.
Certain financial aspects of the co-op bond (regional business is lower revenue than national Uber, higher risk premium than Apple/Microsoft bonds, lower Moody's credit rating, etc) ... are less appealing to bond buyers which then lowers the amount of capital to the co-op. Just because a company has a "bond offering" doesn't automatically mean investors will line up to buy them.
E.g. and using the failed RideAustin example above... if they hypothetically offered bonds in 2017, your coupon payment would be $0 right now.
Whatever financial "solution" one comes up with for co-ops, one still has to account for behaviors of all the other economic actors in the system.