eliminated. Cured meat is subject to 

 shrinkage, but frozen meat shrinks very 

 little. Lockers enable farmers to kill at 

 frequent intervals and have a variety of 

 fresh meat on hand at all times. 



I'rom the financial side, the farmer 

 does very well with a locker plant. But 

 how about health.' Is frozen meat as 

 ^ood as other .^ 



If meat is quick frozen and held stead- 

 ily at a temperature of ten deqrees above 

 zero, it is superior in quality to the Name 

 ^rade of fresh meat. Quick freezing 

 makes meat 20 percent more tender and 

 kills nearly SO percent of the bacteria it 

 contains. A month of storage kills one- 

 fourth of the remaining bacteria, so that 

 a quick frozen jiiece of meat, stored for 

 one month, has 84 percent of tiie bacteria 

 killed. This is a major health improve- 

 ment. 



If a piece of pork is quick frozen at 

 ten degrees below zero and then placed 

 in a locker room at ten above, it will be 

 perfectly safe from trichinae. Quick 

 frozen fruits and vegetables retain far 

 more of their natural color, flavor and 

 vitamin content than if canned, and are 

 superior in these respects to the average 

 fresh product that has been picked twen- 

 ty-four hours. In fact, frosted foods 

 have been selling at premium prices 

 along the Atlantic seaboard for several 

 years — quick freezing and frozen stor- 

 age enables the farmer to take advantage 

 of this fine food, and save money while 

 doing it. 



Plants have been built by individuals, 

 corporations, and cooperatives. In each 

 case they have been successful because 

 they bring a reasonable return on the 

 capital invested while saving the u.ser a 

 substantial sum on his annual food bill. 



LOCKER ROOM 

 Farm Bureau Member Jarnes Dale of the 

 Story County Farm Bureau. Ames. la. 



Future development is problematical, but 

 present trends indicate that a constantly 

 increasing number w ill be installed by co- 

 operative organizations. 



Locker plants otfer several distinct ad- 

 vantages to co-ops. 1 hey enable an exKst- 

 ing organization to increase its net reve- 

 nue substantially and to increase patron- 

 age in other lines from members. In 

 some cases they have provided the reve- 

 nue that reduced overhead costs in other 

 operations. In others they have increased 

 patronage of cooperative distributing as- 

 sociations to the point where they were 

 able to earn a sure profit. 



Evidence available today shows that 

 locker plants are a real .service to all 

 parties concerned, but it is just as evident 

 that proper design and operation are es- 

 sential. There must be adecjuate insula- 

 tion to keep uniform temperatures in the 

 chill and locker r(X)ms, aside from the 

 fact that poor insulation will deteriorate 



in a very few years. Ihe building itself 

 must be solid and substantial, Ixciuse a 

 locker plant is a life time iiist.illation. 

 Ihe plant must be conveniently and ef- 

 liciently arranged so that there i^ no un- 

 necessary loss of refrigeration and so 

 customers may reach their lockers with a 

 minimum of ctTort. 



I'ortunately. most of the plants built 

 today meet these standards. .\K)dern 

 engineers have perteited designs to con- 

 form with the requirements of scientific 

 food preservation. Properly engineered 

 cold storage locker plants fill a definite 

 need: they save money tor the user and 

 give him bc-tter food than he could other- 

 wise have; they are a scKind iinestinent 

 lor coops or I'lrivatc individuals; and 

 thev are a long step in making it |^ossible 

 for rural America to aihieve a state of 

 self-sutficienty unknown since the days of 

 the spinning wheel and home loom. 



YOU'LL FREEZE 

 YOUR WHISKERS 

 In the sharp- 

 freeze room where 

 sub-zero tempera- 

 tures work fast to 

 hold flavor and tei- 

 ture. 



Lee County First To 



Build Storage Lockers 



\^^^HF; Lee County Cold Storage 

 ^^""/^ (Company was recently incor- 

 ^J porated by the LA A legal 

 department under the co-operative act 

 of Illinois as a subsidiary of the Lee 

 < ounty Farm Bureau. It will operate 

 tokl storage locker plants in that coun- 

 The initial plant will be locateil in 

 Amboy where a building was pureliased 

 sometime ago and is now being 

 equipped with a refrigeration system 

 cooling room, and s-H large si/e lock- 

 ers each of which is capable of storing 

 sOO pounds of meat. On (Vt .'() ap- 

 proximately 160 lockers had been sold 

 (SIO a year rental). On that date also 

 nearly $2000 of stock had been sub- 

 scribed and solicitation for additional 

 subscriptions was going forward rap- 

 idly. 



It is reported that the Ambov plant 

 will cost in the nvigliborhood ot SVOOO 

 including building anil cold storage 

 equipment. The Cold Storage Com- 

 pany also contenij-'lates operating a 

 similar plant at Dixon if the demand 

 lustifies. 'Ihe SIO per year storage 

 charge does not meludc service fees of 

 the butcher who will be employed to 

 cut meat and wait on patrons. The 

 Amboy plant will be ready for opera- 

 tion on or before the middle of No- 

 vember according to Farm Bureau of- 

 ficials. 



The Lee C^ountv C old Stor.ige C om- 

 pany is organized with the lollowing 

 stock setup: "^tMiO shares (•>' i preferred 

 (par value SIO): -''<") shares B pre- 

 ferred (no par value) held by Lee 

 ('ounty Farm Bureau ; 2'>00 shares com- 

 mon stock to be held by Farm Bureau 

 members. 



NOVEMBER, 1936 



