Section 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  of  mental  retardation  and
  developmental disabilities.