By LOU HATTER

By LOU HATTER

Rappahannock News Staff Writer

The memberships of the Culpeper Farmers’ Cooperative ahd the Orange-Madison Farmers’ Cooperative will vote next Wednesday on a plan to merge the two companies.

The merger, which has been approved by both cooperatives’ boards of directors, would combine the two operations and increase the efficiency of both, according to OrangeMadison Board President Willis “Monk” Sanford.

The merger plan was suggested by the Orange-Madison Co-op, which has been operating at a loss for the past three years. Mr. Sanford estimated that the co-op will lose about $400,000 this year, bringing its total losses to approximately $1 million.

The Orange-Madison Co-op’s financier, Baltimore Bank of Cooperatives, has told the co-op board that it cannot continue to extend its financing indefinitely, forcing the cooperative to seek a solution to its debt problem, Mr. Sanford said. He said he met last week with one of the bank’s senior managers in Atlanta, and found his reaction to the merger plan “very favorable. He thought it is our best option; that it is best for both co-ops.”

Among the alternatives explored, he said, were a merger with the Culpeper Cooperative, a management takeover by Southern States Inc., or a sellout to a private company.

The latter two options, he said, were “not favorable” because the coop members would lose local control of the company.

Farmers’ cooperatives are wholy owned by their members, who must approve any proposals made by the board of directors. Only registered agricultural producers may be voting members. The Culpeper Cooperative has about 4,000 members and $20 million in annual sales, while Orange-Madison has 2,200 members and about $13 million in sales, according to Mr. Sanford.

Part of any profits are returned to the cooperative members each