USDA Cooperative Services focuses on co-op education, development, legal information, research, and farmer co-op statistics. We strive to connect co-ops with resources within USDA Rural Development and across the federal government. CW member Margaret Bau has been engaged in co-op development since 1998 across her home state of Wisconsin and nationally since 2015.

Margaret has assisted in the formation of over 35 cooperatives in industries as diverse as homecare worker co-ops in long-term care, the forest products industry, distributing local foods into regional institutions, arts marketing and galleries, ownership conversions, disability services, and employment among people living with mental illness.

For over 20 years Margaret has proudly served as an instructor for Building Blocks Basics and Toolkit Implementation in Cooperation Work’s Art & Science of Cooperative Development training series. She is also an active member of the CW’s Professional Development committee.