l6 INFORMATION RELATING TO CO-OPERATION AND ASSOCIATION 



The most successful co-operative canneries now at work handle a wide 

 variety of produce through a long season, some beginning with strawberries 

 in May and ending in December with late vegetables. By making use of 

 the various crops as they ripen the busy season may be made to last about 

 six and a half months. 



The cannery should be situated as near as possible to the centre for 

 the production of its material. The quantity of produce delivered to 

 it as material should moreover allow it to transact such a volume of busi- 

 ness that the overhead expenses will represent a small unit of cost per case. 

 Canneries should generally be near a centre of population from which they 

 can secure at a reasonable price the necessary pickers and other supple- 

 mentary help. In many farmers' co-operative canneries the skilled labour 

 used in the manufacturing department is supplied by the sons and daughters 

 of the farmer co-operators. These young people earn pocket money and 

 the cannery secures reliable and skilled help, year by year. In some districts 

 the berr>-picking season is looked upon as a holida}' time, and many fami- 

 lies in the Pacij&c North West and in California look forward to it. 



From the neighbouring towns they — especially the women and 

 children — move into the berry fields and spend from two to six weeks as 

 pickers. They are fairly well paid and have an excellent outing. One 

 cannery employs as many as 15,000 pickers in a season and provides 

 good accommodation for camping. 



The sanitary condition of a cannery should be satisfactory. There 

 should be a plentiful supply of good water. The road s should be sufficiently 

 good and there should be suitable provision for transport. 



Proximity to markets is important. 



Managers of several co-operative canneries state that a lack of sufficient 

 capital is their chief handicap. Canning is a manufacturing business and 

 therefore needs a much larger capital than the average co-operative enter- 

 prise. To be successful the association should have enough paid-in capital 

 to make the plant and equipment practically free of debt when the first 

 canning season opens. A considerable sum is needed for operating expenses 

 before the final returns for canned goods are received, this last event often 

 taking place eighteen months or more after the raw material is delivered. 

 A liberal fund is therefore necessary for the making of advances to growers 

 when they deliver their produce. Such advances range from 35 to 65 per 

 cent, of the estimated value of the produce. If the plant be free of debt, 

 enough money can usually be obtained from banks to finance the busi- 

 ness of the early season, and in the later season additional money can be 

 raised on warehouse receipts of the canned goods. Some of the larger can- 

 neries have as much as $200,000 worth of canned goods in their warehouses 

 at one time, and need a proportionately large surplus fund and good credit 

 to finance their business during the canning season. Such credit was pos- 

 sessed by a Western farmers' cannery which recently bought a trainload 

 of sugar for its year's business, having secured for such purpose a loan of 

 $85,000 from one bank. 



Membership of a co-operative cannery- should not be acquired for less 



