A cooperative is an ownership structure in which several individuals share the risk and profits of the operation. A sawmill cooperative with likeminded people is a popular option to spread both the initial cost and workload of milling. Some members such as farmers only saw periodically, so sharing a sawmill can be very practical in some cases.
The Northwood Forestry Cooperative (NFC) in the US state of Minnesota is a prime example of the successful application of this system. Both Patrick Lanin and Glenn Elvecrog are members of this Co-op. Patrick was president of the Co-op for nearly 10 years. “I’m now 82 years old and have sawn more lumber than anyone else in the cooperative, about 6,000 board feet. I own 145 acres of mixed woodland in the town of Brainerd and live in a house that I’ve built myself. There’s a wide variety of tree species growing on my property: white pine, red pine, larch, quaking aspen, big-tooth aspen, red oak, white oak, sugar maple, red maple, black spruce, white spruce and my favorite black ash. I’ve now got a lot of stacked, dried, grade-sawn lumber on site. With the current outrageous prices for lumber, all of a sudden people are calling me, looking to get a good deal!”