Pag 



e Four 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



speakers appeared on the I. A. A. daily 

 programs. 

 lit is estimated that approximately 

 100,000 people attended the 14 district 

 picnics sponsored jointly by the Farm 

 Bureaus and the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association during the year. 



TAXATION 



DURING 1928 tests of valuations 

 by the Department of Taxation 

 •were completed in 12 counties. Sub- 

 stantial deductions in valuations were 

 made particularly in Stephenson, 

 Crawford, Richland, and Johnson 

 counties, and a somewhat smaller re- 

 duction in St. Clair county. Following 

 the long struggle for equalization in 

 Champaign county, the 1928 Board of 

 Review reduced land valuations from 

 10 to as high as 20 per cent. Earlier 

 in 1928, the State Tax Commission 

 reduced valuations of land and im- 

 provements in 10 counties all in south- 

 em Illinois, the reductions varying 

 from 10 to 20 per cent. 



The Department estimates that 

 taxes for all purposes on farm lands, 

 payable early in 1928, were $4,400,- 

 000 less than they would have been 

 if the high valuations current in 1920- 

 22 had remained, and $1,800,000 less 

 than they would have been if the 1926 

 valuations had remained unchanged. 



Much of the time of Mr, Watson, 

 director of taxation, was spent in 

 studying the entire revenue system of 

 the state as a member of the Joint 

 Legislative Revenue Committee ap- 

 pointed by the Governor of Illinois. 

 The report of the committee was sched- 

 uled for completion February 1, 1929. 

 Mr. Watson was the only member rep- 

 resenting agriculture on the committee. 

 The report will point out some of the 

 fundamental weaknesses of the present 

 tapting system and will suggest statu- 

 tory and probably constitutional 

 changes necessary to remedy such 

 weaknesses. 



GRAIN MARKETING 



«ARRISON FAHRNKOPF, former 

 farm advisor in McLean county, 

 became grain marketing director on 

 Oct. 1. 



The new grain marketing program 

 is being developed in close co-opera- 

 tion with the State Farmers Grain 

 Dealers' Association. The ultimate 

 goal is greater service and more satis- 

 fajctory prices and marketing condi- 

 tions for the man on the farm. 



The Association recognizes the im- 

 portance of the farmers' elevator as a 

 b^ic unit in a grain marketing system. 

 It lis hoped to stimulate greater inter- 

 est and participation on the part of 

 farmer stockholders and patrons in 

 these co-operative agencies. 



The memorandum of agreement 

 adopted by the I. A. A. and I. F. G. 

 D.I- A. joint committee on relations 

 states that: 1. The Farm Bureaus of 



Illinois recognize the farmers' ele- 

 vators of Illinois as the medium 

 through which any constructive grain 

 marketing program should go forward. 



2. The announced purpose of said 

 farmers' elevators is to operate so as 

 to return the largest possible ultimate 

 price to the producers of grain. 



3. Both the Farm Bureaus and the 

 farmers' elevators recognize that to 

 carry out most effectively paragraph 

 2, it is essential to control the market- 

 ing of the maximum volume of grain 

 produced within a given area. 



4. Therefore, the Illinois Agricul- 

 tural Association is willing and desir- 

 ous of rendering such constructive 

 service as may be deemed advisable 

 and feasible to increase the volume of 

 business now being handled by farm- 

 ers' elevators, and stimulating the 

 moral support of the farmers behind 

 said elevators. We, the representa- 

 tives of said Association, submit to 

 the representatives of the Illinois 

 Farmers Grain Dealers' Association 

 our willingness to employ and main- 

 tain a grain marketing director to 

 carry out a program which may be 

 agreed upon by both the Farmers 

 Grain Dealers' Association of Illinois 

 and the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion. 



LIVESTOCK MARKETING 



ON DECEMBER 1, 79 of the 94 or- 

 ganized Illinois County Farm Bu- 

 reaus were emphasizing livestock mar- 

 keting as one of their important proj- 

 ects. The major activity of the Asso- 

 ciation was to co-operate with these 

 Farm Bureaus in carrying out an ag- 

 gressive educational campaign in co- 

 operative livestock marketing. County- 

 wide meetings of directors and man- 

 agers, trips to central markets, con- 

 ferences with livestock shippers and 

 officials, etc., were held. Thousands 

 of livestock growers in Illinois attended 

 the 48 tours to the Chicago, Peoria, 

 Indianapolis, and East St. Louis ter- 

 minal markets. 



Considerable work was done with 

 shipping associations in matters relat- 

 ing to better methods of accounting, 

 use of trucks in assembling livestock, 

 and annual meetings. 



The co-operative Producer livestock 

 marketing agencies on the four mar- 

 kets in and adjacent to Illinois reg^is- 

 tered increases in receipts of Illinois 

 livestock of approximately 17 per cent 

 during the first six months of 1928 over 

 a similar period in 1927. 



The Illinois Farm Bureau Serum 

 Association purchased co-operatively 

 36,100,000 c. c. of serum and virus 

 for farmers during the year at an 

 estimated saving of $80,000 to $100,- 

 000 compared with going prices to in- 

 dividuals not receiving the benefit of 

 the pool buying. The advantages to 

 hog growers through the promotion of 

 early vaccination have been of even 

 greater importance than the savings 

 on serum and virus. 



DAIRY MARKETING 



THE farm value of dairy products 

 in Illinois is $101,000,000 each 

 year. Of this amount $78,000,000 rep- 

 resents the sale of fluid milk. Busi- 

 ness-like co-operation in the sale of fluid 

 milk will increase the net returns ten 

 per cent. This makes co-operative 

 marketing worth $10,000,000 or $50 per 

 dairy farmer. 



It is being done in community after 

 community through the introduction 

 and administration of the following 

 balanced program: 



1. Quality improvement. 



2. Use of collective bargaining 

 power in selling. 



3. Stabilization of markets through 

 surplus control with sound local selling 

 plans. 



4. Checking of weights and tests. 



5. Watching credit rating of buyers. 



6. Getting out truthful market in- 

 formation. 



7. Advertising to increase the use 

 of dairy products. 



The Peoria group has just closed its 

 second successful year of marketing 

 through their pool with sales approach- 

 ing the million dollar mark for the 

 year. Prices at Peoria now are about 

 thirty cents per hundred weight more 

 than in the days of individual selling, 

 which makes an aggregate return to 

 the thousand members who sell their 

 milk co-operatively an extra $120,000 

 annually. This has come about not in 

 increasing the price to the consumer, 

 but in effecting savings in transporta- 

 tion to the market, delivery and over- 

 head costs on the market and in 

 increased sales through better quality. 



Programs very similar to the Peoria 

 plan have been inaugurated and are 

 functioning at Bloomington, Cham- 

 paign-Urbana, Rockford, DeEalb, 

 •Springfield. Waukegan, Mattoon and 

 Quincy. 



While co-operation in Illinois is only 

 beginning, its results at this stage of 

 the game are easily worth one and a 

 half million dollars to the dairymen of 

 Illinois, annually. 



In both the Chicago and St. Louis 

 districts organization work is going 

 on which when completed should pro- 

 duce organizations that, with good 

 business management, will g^ive a ma- 

 jority of Illinois farmers effective milk 

 marketing service. 



Active plans now underway point 

 to the eaily federation of the organ- 

 ized markets into a state sales associa- 

 tion which will give added benefits to 

 the dairy industry in the state. 



PRODUCE MARKETING 



TWENTY-SIX co-operative produce 

 marketing units handling cream, 

 poultry, and eggs are now operating 

 in Illinois. The oldest one started 

 business June 1, 1924. Twelve addi- 

 tional units are now being organized. 

 Organization work was recertly 



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