Co-op Catharsis

The excellent book titled Cockshutt: the Complete Story has really delivered me to a position of newfound enlightenment. The book does an excellent job of detailing the developmental history of Cockshutt and the North American Farm Machinery Cooperative tractors. What it doesn't spend much time on are the interesting social aspects of the cooperative movement that spawned the manufacture of tractors. I would be interested to learn more about the manufacturing and sale in St Paul.
Of broader social interest, I'd like to learn more about the manufacturing of tractors (like the one above) that came from a plant run by the Farm Security Administration in Arthurdale Virginia. When my grandfather bought his tractor at the Farmers Union in Grand Forks, many local residents labled it a "Communist tractor". Such was the mood of the Cold War 1950's. You can donate to help restore this tractor for the Arthurdale Heritage Society at this link.

The tractor above appears very much the same tractor as my 1950 3S manufacutured in St Paul. This model was manufactured in the late 1930's. A cooperative venture between cooperatives and one of the depression era New Deal organizations is an interesting and singular event in history. I'd like to know more about it.
Manufacturing tractors was the culmination of populist movements and cooperative buying that started with the Grange in the 1870's and led to movements in politics and business that shaped America. These movements caused people to think differently about the role of business, product and consumer in a capitalist society. Today they exist in the modern iterations that reach across the social spectrum. One of these is Cenex (the modern evolution of the farm co-op). Then there is a great co-op for Yuppie sports enthusiasts named
REI (I'm a member).
Then there is the fascinating urban 1960's hippie appropriation of the cooperative idea: the food co-op see Wedge. Lastly, there are commmon organizations known as the housing cooperative which has become a ubiquitous feature in our society.
Cooperatives are a great way for people to work together to save money and get a superior product in the process. I'm not sure why there arn't more of them.