Ncfc

What Ncfc does

The National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) is a Washington, D.C.-based, 501(c)-style nonprofit trade association founded in 1929 that represents America's farmer-owned cooperatives before Congress, federal agencies, and the executive branch. Its members comprise regional and national farmer cooperatives — including major enterprises such as CHS Inc., Land O'Lakes, Dairy Farmers of America, CoBank, AgriBank, Ag Processing Inc, GROWMARK, Ocean Spray, and American Crystal Sugar — as well as 17 state and regional councils of cooperatives that together encompass nearly 2,000 local farmer co-ops and reach roughly 2 million farmers and ranchers.

NCFC's core products are membership services: legislative and regulatory advocacy across nine issue areas (Ag Labor, Animal Agriculture, Climate/Conservation/Environment, Credit & Rural Development, Farm Policy & Risk Management, Food & Nutrition, Legal/Tax/Accounting, Trade & Market Access, Transportation & Infrastructure), the annual LTA Conference and Annual Meeting, director education through the Director Education Advisory Committee, the NCFC CO-OP/PAC political action committee, and sustainability resources such as the Farmer Co-op Sustainability Messaging Guide. There is no proprietary technology platform; the organization runs on a standard CMS website and email/newsletter distribution channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, press releases, in-person events).

The business model is membership-dues-driven and recurring, supplemented by conference fees, sponsorship (e.g., CoBank and Nationwide Insurance fund named awards), and PAC fundraising. Membership pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Go-to-market is direct enterprise sales to farmer cooperatives via [email protected], with a roughly 10–11 person staff led by President & CEO Duane Simpson (since May 2025), a former Bayer Crop Science executive, and VP/Head of Government Affairs RJ Karney.

Name

Ncfc

Legal name

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives

Website

https://ncfc.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1929

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit trade association, founded in 1929, that advocates on agricultural, tax, trade, labor, and environmental policy for America's farmer-owned cooperatives and roughly 2 million farmers and ranchers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: NCFC generates revenue primarily through membership dues from regional and national farmer cooperatives, state councils, and affiliate members. Member cooperatives pay fees to be part of the organization and gain access to advocacy services, networking, educational events, and resources.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NCFC is a membership-based trade association that advances the business and policy interests of America's farmer cooperatives. It provides legislative and regulatory advocacy before Congress, federal agencies, and the administration; offers networking and education through conferences (Annual Meeting, LTA Conference, HR Conference); and supplies member resources on tax, antitrust, trade, labor, and environmental issues affecting farmer cooperatives.

Product overview

NCFC is a membership-based advocacy organization (not a software product company) that represents farmer cooperatives. Its offerings consist of membership services including legislative and regulatory advocacy, annual conferences (such as the LTA Conference), director education programs, and sustainability resources including the Farmer Co-op Sustainability Messaging Guide and Sustainability Field Guide. The organization does not offer a traditional technology product, software platform, or SaaS offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• NCFC Membership Services Membership program providing farmer cooperatives access to policy advocacy, legislative representation, networking, conferences, educational resources, and industry publications.
• Legislative & Regulatory Advocacy NCFC advocates for farmer cooperatives on legislative and regulatory issues including agricultural labor, trade, farm policy, tax policy, and environmental regulations before Congress and federal agencies.
• Annual Meeting & LTA Conference Annual conference featuring sessions on competition, tax, AI, trade, and cooperative reorganization topics for member education and networking.
• NCFC CO-OP/PAC Political action committee supporting candidates and policies that benefit farmer cooperatives, with FEC compliance filings and fundraising events managed by the Treasurer.
• Farmer Co-op Sustainability Messaging Guide Resource guide promoting farmer cooperatives' sustainability programs and messaging framework for member organizations.
• Sustainability Field Guide Framework guide developed by the ESSG Committee for farmer cooperatives to use in developing and assessing sustainability programs.

Quantifiable outcome

• NCFC's advocacy helped secure favorable tax provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act including Section 139L interest exclusion on agricultural real property loans
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNCFC is a member of the Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, which develops policy recommendations to address climate change and sustainability in agriculture. The alliance works on voluntary, incentive-based approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil health.
• Agriculture Workforce CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNCFC participates in the Agriculture Workforce Coalition which advocates for agricultural labor reform and improvements to the H-2A guest worker program to meet the unique needs of agriculture.
• Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural ExportscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNCFC participates in this coalition focused on maintaining and expanding U.S. agricultural exports through Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program support.
• CoBankminorOthersCoBank is a contributor member and has sponsored the Robert B. Engel Farmer Cooperative Manager of the Year award, made possible through a generous donation in honor of former CEO Bob Engel who was also former chairman of NCFC.
• Nationwide InsuranceminorOthersNationwide Insurance sponsors the NCFC Emerging Leader of the Year Award, providing complimentary registration and travel to the NCFC Annual Meeting plus up to $5,000 for leadership development opportunities.
• USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)coreOthersNCFC works with USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service to support market development programs including Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program for U.S. agricultural exports.
• USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)coreOthersNCFC collaborates with USDA APHIS to support U.S. agricultural exports through sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) issue resolution and market access improvements.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• U.S. Chamber of Commerce: The largest U.S. business federation, providing federal advocacy, policy research, and networking for businesses broadly. Comparable to NCFC as a membership-based advocacy organization but operates at a vastly larger scale across all industries.
• National Association of Manufacturers (NAM): Largest U.S. manufacturing trade association with federal advocacy and member services. Comparable to NCFC in operating model (membership dues, lobbying, PAC) but in a different vertical with a much larger staff and budget.

Direct peers

• National Milk Producers Federation: Trade association representing dairy cooperatives and their farmer-members. Direct comparable because it is a commodity-specific cooperative trade association with the same revenue model (dues) and advocacy orientation as NCFC.
• National Farmers Union: A national advocacy organization for family farmers, ranchers, and fishermen. Directly comparable to NCFC in advocating federal farm policy, though NFU's constituency is more focused on family farms broadly versus NCFC's cooperative-specific focus.
• National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA): Represents state agriculture commissioners and secretaries. Strongly comparable to NCFC as a federal policy advocacy organization in agriculture; several NCFC senior leaders (e.g., RJ Karney, Zach Gihorski) previously served at NASDA.
• National Corn Growers Association: Commodity-specific trade association representing corn growers, including cooperative members. Directly comparable in operating model (membership-based, federal advocacy, conferences, PAC) though narrower in commodity focus.
• American Farm Bureau Federation: The largest U.S. general agricultural trade association, representing farmers and ranchers (including non-cooperative members). Directly comparable to NCFC as a member-driven advocacy organization working on federal agricultural policy, with a much larger footprint than NCFC.
• American Soybean Association: Commodity-specific trade association for soybean farmers, working on farm policy, trade, and sustainability. Directly comparable to NCFC in structure and member-funded policy advocacy, with similar advocacy wins on biodiesel and trade.

Others

• U.S. Grains Council: A market development and export-promotion organization for U.S. grain producers, partly funded by USDA MAP/FMD programs. Comparable to NCFC's trade and market access work but focused narrowly on international market development rather than full legislative advocacy.

Emerging players

• Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA): Coalition of farm, ranch, food, and forestry groups developing climate and sustainability policy recommendations. NCFC is a member of FACA; FACA is comparable as a cross-organizational advocacy structure but operates as a coalition rather than a membership-based association.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/FarmerCoop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ncfc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ncfc