FARMERS CO-OPERATIVE ELEVATORS IN MINNESOTA 



Table I. — Year of Organization of 204 Co-operative Farmers' Elevators 



Number Number 



Year of Elevators Year of Elevators 



1876 I 190T 6 



1884 I 1902 2 



1885 2 T903 6 



1886 I 1904 10 



1887 I 1905 16 



1889 4 1906 16 



1890 • 2 1907 , 7 



1893 2 1908 9 



1894 3 1909 II 



1895 2 I9IO 10 



1896 3 1911 15 



1897 '3 I9I2 22 



1898 4 1913 21 



1899 I I914 14 



1900 4 1915 5 



As would naturally be expected there are in gener?l more co operative 

 elevators in regions of large grain production than elsewhere. The south- 

 western part of the State grows more grain than any other except the Red 

 River Valley, and co-operative elevators are particularly numerous in it. 

 In the Red River Valley however, a great grain region, they are compara- 

 tively few. Their small number in coimties adjoining the Twin Cities 

 and' in the entire north-eastern part of the State is chiefly attributable to 

 the small local grain production. The earliest co-operative grain elevators 

 in Minnesota appear to have been organized in the middle western coun- 

 ties. 



§ 2. Activity of the co-operative elevators. 



a) Quantity of Grain Received. — The 1,428 local elevators and mills 

 bu^dng grain from farmers reported to the vState Railroad and Warehouse 

 Conmiission that they handled approxiujately 112,000,000 bushels of grain 

 Huring the season 1914-1915. Of this amount the co-operative elevators hand- 

 led over 43,000,000 busheU or nearly two fifths. 



The propoition of the business in grain done by the co-operative ele- 

 vators varies greatly in different parts of the State. In one county, Clear- 

 water, it is all done by them. Or the other hand in fifteen counties no 

 co-operative elevators are reported to exist. In several of the counties 

 of south-western Minnesota, all important in grain production, the co-ope- 

 rative elevators do half of the business or more, but they do as much as 

 50 per cent, in only few of the counties of south-eastern, central or north- 

 western Mirnesota. 



