Relationships among information expenditure, economic performance, and size in local grain marketing cooperatives in the upper midwest

This study examines possible factors which have lead to increased concentration in the cooperative grain marketing sector. The effect, on this industry, of changes in transportation and communication is described. Empirical analysis was performed with data from local grain marketing cooperatives in the Upper Midwest. While the results identify economies of size in information acquisition for these businesses, there is little evidence that the trend toward increased size, in itself, leads to improved elevator performance. Elevators with unit train facilities are found to perform worse than those without unit train facilities while elevators with multiple sites perform better than those operating single sites.