The initiation of cooperatives is defensive in nature. Business usually succeeds when cooperatives derive from market failure rather than low prices. The second stage of a cooperative is survival of the entity. The third stage is the description of ill-defined property rights followed by the fourth stage, which addresses these problems. The fifth stage is action, where shares can be sold on the stock market. New Generation Partnerships require up-front capital investment and commitment from members. They either own the processing capacity or develop a strategic alliance with the existing processor. They minimize many problems and have the potential for long-term success. The question is, can an NGP work in the hog sector? The future trend looks to be less government assistance, more tight linkages between producers and supply chain management, and an increase in food safety and quality. Internally, the number of hog farms has been decreasing at a fast pace with large-scale growers increasing. Packers in Canada are being purchased by US owned entities, which is bringing down the traditionally 100% Canadian owned industry. Since the price crash in 1998/1999, there has been increased interest in hog cooperatives in the US. There seems to be a strong desire to move toward fully integrated production processing units. Producers themselves feel that cooperatives have potential due to leverage-able assets in hog production.