October is National Cooperative Month. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that the nation’s cooperatives posted record income and revenue in 2014. Co-ops earned $6.5 billion in net income and generated $247 billion in total revenue last year. South Dakota Association of Cooperatives Executive Director Brenda Forman says the state’s co-ops are continuing to see growth.

Forman says consumers also see major benefits from cooperatives.

Forman says as part of the National Coop Month celebration, four new members were inducted into the South Dakota Cooperative Hall of Fame.

The total number of ag cooperatives nationally declined from 2,186 in 2013 to 2,106 last year, a drop of nearly 4 percent. Despite that, co-op memberships grew by 1 percent to just under 2 million.