§ 3. Definitions. (a) The term "agricultural product" means any
product of cultivating land, and includes floricultural, horticultural,
viticultural, forestry, nut, dairy, livestock, poultry, bee and any farm
products or by-products thereof.

(b) The terms "feed," "food," and "food products" mean any substance
capable of human, animal or poultry consumption, including all articles
of drink, confectionery or condiment, whether simple, mixed or compound,
and all substances or ingredients added to food for any purpose.

(c) The terms "cooperative," "cooperative association" and
"cooperative corporation" mean a corporation organized under this
chapter, or heretofore organized under any special or general law of
this state, for the cooperative rendering of mutual help and service to
its members. A cooperative shall be either a general cooperative, a
membership cooperative, an agricultural cooperative as defined in
article six of this chapter or a worker cooperative as defined in
section eighty-one of this chapter.

(d) A cooperative corporation shall be classed as a non-profit
corporation, since its primary object is not to make profits for itself
as such, or to pay dividends on invested capital, but to provide service
and means whereby its members may have the economic advantage of
cooperative action, including a reasonable and fair return for their
product and service.

(e) The term "member" means the holder of a membership in a
cooperative, whether evidenced by a certificate of membership or by a
certificate of stock or by other authorized means of identification. The
term includes a member association or corporation as provided in this
chapter.

(f) The term "person" includes an individual, a partnership, a
corporation, an association, or two or more individuals acting together.

(g) The term "net margins" or "net retained proceeds" means the amount
by which the undistributed receipts from operations exceed the expenses
thereof.

(h) The term "patron" refers to persons, partnerships, associations
and corporations who transact business with the cooperative either as
producers or purchasers, whether members or not.

(i) A cooperative corporation does not include any corporation which
is formed or may be formed under the banking law, the insurance law, the
railroad law or the transportation corporations law. Except as otherwise
expressly provided in this chapter, no cooperative corporation shall do
any business for which a corporation may be formed under any such law;
but the lawful operations of a cooperative credit corporation as
authorized in this chapter shall not be deemed banking or violation of
any provisions of law as to banking.

(j) The term "cooperative," "cooperation" or any abbreviation,
variation or similitude thereof, shall not be used as or in a name
except by a corporation defined in this chapter. Any cooperative
corporation may sue for an injunction against such prohibited use of the
term. A violation of this prohibition is a misdemeanor, punishable by a
fine of not more than five hundred dollars.

(k) A membership cooperative is a non-stock cooperative which admits
only natural persons to membership, which provides services only to its
members and which makes no distribution of net retained proceeds other
than to its members on the basis of their patronage.

(l) The terms "buying, selling or leasing homes for its members" and
"conducting housing" shall include but not be limited to, the purposes
and uses of residential facilities for the mentally disabled licensed by
the office of mental health or the office for people with developmental
disabilities.