; Whereas agricultural cooperatives provide resources to their member-owners, such as low-cost supplies, effective marketing, and services; Whereas farmer members in agricultural cooperatives have the opportunity to pool resources and reinvest profits into the communities of the farmer members; Whereas the principles of cooperation and the cooperative business model help smallholder farmers organize themselves and gain access to local and global markets, training, improved inputs, conservation programs and aggregated sales and marketing; Whereas the cooperative business model provides farmers ownership over their economic decisions, a focus on learning, and a broader understanding of environmental and social concerns; Whereas the cooperative business model has been used throughout the history of the United States to advance civil rights and to help ensure that all people have equal access to economic opportunity; Whereas cooperative values promote self-determination and democratic rights for all people; Whereas the comprehensive global food security strategy established under section 5 of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 ( 22 U.S.C. 9304 ) (commonly known as Feed the Future ) and the Cooperative Development Program of the United States Agency for International Development use cooperative principles and the cooperative business model to advance international development, nutrition, resilience, and economic security; Whereas the Interagency Working Group on Cooperative Development— (1) is an interagency group that is coordinated and chaired by the Secretary of Agriculture to foster cooperative development and ensure coordination with Federal agencies and national and local cooperative organizations that have cooperative programs and interests; and (2) as of the date of introduction of this resolution, had organized 11 meetings