A Season of Low Fruit and Vegetable Pri 



By H. W. Day 



H. W. DAY 



GENERALLY speaking, Illinois fruit and 

 vegetable growers had sufficient fa- 

 vorable weather conditions duririg the 

 past season to produce fairly large crops. 

 Severe drought was not a factor as has been 

 the case the past several years. While late 

 frost, fungus diseases, insects, and, in some 

 cases, too much rainfall, took their toll, 

 production of most crops was fair to good 

 Large crops of fruits and vegetables in- 

 var-ably mean disaster as far as prices are 

 concerned. 

 We often hear the consumer complain 

 about retail prices of 

 fruits and vegetables 

 at the grocery store. 

 But in the season just 

 finished Illinois grow- 

 ers barely received 

 cost of production or 

 less, and certainly the 

 average consumer can- 

 not object to retail 

 prices of most fruits 

 and vegetables during 

 the past three or four 

 months. Good grades 

 of apples have been 

 retailing in the cities 

 as low as 75c to $1.00 

 per bushel, or in smaller quantities, seven 

 pounds for 2Sc. Potatoes, onions, cabbage, 

 sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, 

 cantaloupes, retailed at very low prices 

 throughout the summer. 



These conditions present major marketing 

 problems for growers and their organiza- 

 tions. It is the same old story of better 

 grading, better packing, better distribution, 

 together with salesmanship. All are re- 

 quired to improve marketing conditions. 



The Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange dur- 

 ing the past year has sold for members and 

 other producers a large quantity of straw- 

 berries, early apples, peaches, cantaloupes, 

 pears, late apples, and a number of miscel- 

 laneous commodities such as asparagus, 

 raspberries, beans, peppers, and cucumbers. 

 Following is a brief summary of the 

 commodities handled. 



STRAWBERRIES. Activities of the Ex- 

 change in marketing strawberries are most- 

 ly in three districts. In the Anna district ap- 

 proximately 8,000 crates of berries were 

 handled at prices ranging from $2.50 to $3.00 

 per 2i quart case. The crop in the Centralia 

 district this year was exceedingly short and 

 the volume there was below normal. At 

 Paris, approximately 13,000 crates of berries 

 were handled for the Edgar County Grow- 

 ers Ass'n.. at prices ranging from $2.50 to 

 $3.50. 



EARLY APPLES. Naturally the trans- 

 parent apple is the most abundant of the 

 early apples grown in Illinois. Quality this 

 year on these transparents was imustially 

 good, and the only limiting factor was the 

 small size, which is the usual case, unless 

 severe thinning is practiced. First few cars 

 shipped were sold at about $1.50 per bushel 

 f.o.b. shipping point, and as the season pro- 

 gressed prices declined to as low as SOc 

 per bushel. 



PEACHES. Early estimates indicated that 

 there would be a peach crop of somewhere 

 around 4,000 to 4,500 carloads.- Total quan- 



tity of marketable fruit was a little less 

 than 4,000 carloads. In the Anna and Cobden 

 Districts prices on better peaches, at the 

 begimiing of the shipping season, started at 

 about $2.00 per bushel f.o.b. shipping point. 

 Prices declined as the season progressed, 

 and in this district prices ranged from SOc to 

 $2.00 with possibly an average of $1.25, de- 

 pending on quality and time of shipment. 

 In the upper part of the district around 

 Centralia, prices ranged mostly from 90c to 

 $1.25 with an average of $1.00 per bushel 

 f.o.b. shipping point. The poorer grades 

 shipped during the early part of the season 

 reacted unfavorably to the industry. As a 

 result customers were not anxious to buy 

 the peachps in the Central'a District, even 

 though they were of better quality and 

 lower in price. 



CANTALOUPES. The cantaloupe ''crop 

 marketed from the Poag Growers Associa- 

 tion of Madison County was not as large in 

 volume as usual. Growing conditions were 

 not favora^'le for thp sett'nq of fruit on the 

 vines. Approximately 13000 bushel boxes 

 were marketed bv the Elxchanse for this 

 Association. The entire crop averaged about 

 SOc per box for growers. This price, al- 

 though not high, could he considered a fair 

 price. It compares with 10c a box for a 

 much larger crop in 1931. 



PEARS. The long continued hot weather 

 nrevented a favorable market for Kieffer 

 pears. Kieffer pears from the Cobden dis- 

 trict soM mostly from 60c to 85c per bushel, 

 f.o.b. shipping point. In the Central'a dis- 

 trict prices ranged mostly from SOc to 75c 

 per bushel or cwt. There was a period of a 

 week or ten days in the excessive hot 

 weather when the market was so draggy 

 that growers were requested not to pick and 

 harvest any pears during this time. Apirox- 

 imatelv 90 carloads of pears were handled 

 through the Exchange. 



LATE APPLES. During the months of 

 September and October the late apple crop 

 was harvested. The Illinois apple crop is 

 much larger this year than the 1934 crop. 

 Also the Government figures indicate that 

 the total apile crop in the Un-ted States is 

 four percent larger than the five year aver- 

 age of 1928-1932; and thirty-nine percent 

 larger than last year's crop. This large ap- 

 ple crop, together with the hot weather at 

 harvest time, has caused an extremely bad 

 market. Some apples have been sold at 

 picking time at all kinds of prices ranging 

 as low as 20c per cwt. for cider stock, ■while 

 the first cars, at the beginning of the season, 

 sold at $1.00 to $1.10 per bushel shipping 

 point. Quality has been quite variable. A 

 high percentage of good apples have been 

 placed in Illinois storages. Most of these 

 storages are well filled, and we hope vrill 

 move out at more favorable prices during 

 the winter months. Consumers will be fa- 

 vored with having good quality apples of- 

 fered them at reasonable prices. Our export 

 situation may open up so that some of these 

 apples may be exported and thereby help 

 the market. 



During the past five years the truck has 

 become a very important factor in the 

 movement of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

 Activities of Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange 

 is just an average sample of the general 



movement. During the past season, more 

 than 22.000 cases of berries were sold by the 

 Exchange for growers, and all of these 

 crates were moved by truck. Seventy-five 

 carloads of early apples were moved, or a 

 total of 38.183 bu.. and 5.636 bushels were 

 moved in truck lots. 



In the peach deal, we felt it was impor- 

 tant to have assembly points for truck sell- 

 ing. At our Anna market 11.167 bu. of 

 peaches were moved, mostly in truck lots, j 

 At our Cobden market 6.422 bu. of peaches 

 were moved in truck lots, while 8.715 bu. 

 were moved in cars. At Carbondale 11.359 

 bu. of peaches were sold in truck lots, while 

 8,319 bu. were moved in cars. Sum total of 

 peaches moved in trucks — 33.642 bu.. while 

 126.720 bu. were moved in cars. The entire 

 cantaloupe crop, namely 13.000 bu. boxes or 

 the equivalent, also was moved in trucks. 

 The truck is not a factor in the movement 

 of pears, because only 497 bu. moved in 

 truck lots. 



The pros and cons of the truck as a trans- 

 portation unit, and the truck dealers, are 

 numerous. The Fruit and Vegetable De- 

 partment, and the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange feel that assembly points are nec- 

 essary for growers to bring their products, 

 and from these points truck sales made. We 

 further feel that better results can be se- 

 cured if these truck sales are in the hands 

 of a sales organ'zation, than by having in- 

 dividual growers compete against each other 

 to make sales. 



Farm Bureau Presidents 



(Continued from page 24) 



Soil Erosion. He is one of the pioneers 

 in terracing and the methods he 

 worked out have been applied on 

 other farms throughout the county. 

 Says he. "Down here where there is 

 rolling land terracing will simply have 

 to be done to save the soil." 



"The longer you're in there as Farm 

 Bureau president," said Kueker, "the 

 more you find you're putting into it. 

 Then you find you're getting an awful 

 lot out of it. You get more interested, 

 you find yo' have some abilities along 

 lines you never suspected. I can 

 truthfully say that being Farm Bu- 

 reau president has been broadening 

 for me, and I guess that holds true for 

 about everyone." As for the Farm 

 Bureau itself, he said, "When you're 

 a Farm Bureau member you always 

 know ahead of time what's coming up 

 in good farming. It's the only sound 

 farm organization in existence and 

 with more members it will do more 

 than it has in the past and that's 

 been a lot." 



The Kueker family attend the 

 United Lutheran church at Campbell 

 HUl. Illinois, 



The year 1934 set a record for reduction 



in numbers of livestock. Percentagre de- 

 creases by species were horses, 1.1 percent ; 

 mules, 2.6 per cent; cattle, 11.2 per cent; 

 sheep, 4.7 per cent; hog's. 3S.3 per cent. 



NOVEMBER. 19S5 



