Progress In Fruit 

 and Vegetable 



Marketing 



y^N MINNEAPOLIS one stifling 



Oj August night, a fat grocer was 

 V^^ preparing to retire. At the mo- 

 ment his left shoe hit the floor a locomo- 

 tive coupler banged against the coupler 

 of a refrigerator car on a southern Il- 

 linois side track. Before the grocer had 

 begun to snore, the locomotive was haul- 

 ing the car, now a part of its train, to- 

 ward the mainline. 



The Minnesotan owned the contents 

 of that car, the first fancy peaches of the 

 season. He had purchased the fruit from 

 the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange just 

 before he closed his business for the day. 



That morning, Harry Day, manager 

 of the Exchange, had received price quo- 

 tations for all grades of peaches from 

 all the major markets in the country. He 

 discovered that prices were strong in 

 Minneapolis and Cleveland. 



Later in the day one of the member 

 fruit cooperatives reported that a carload 

 of fancy peaches would be ready for 

 shipment in a few hours. Harry Day 

 lost no time in seeking bids for the fruit 

 from the two favorable markets. It was 

 late in the afternoon that telegraphed 

 replies came in from representatives of 

 the National Fruit and Vegetable Ex- 

 change with which the Illinois, Exchange 

 is affiliated. 



The highest bid came from the Minne- 

 apolis grocer and Day asked the member 

 cooperative to consign its car of peaches 

 to him. 



For a dealer in fancy groceries to risk 

 his hard-earned reputation on the pur- 

 chase of a carload of Illinois peaches was 

 unheard of 20 years ago. In those days, 

 and for some years later, the term "Illi- 

 nois peaches" informed buyers on the 

 central markets that here was inferior 

 fruit that could be bought cheaply. 



In fact, buyers were. forced to pay low 

 prices for such fruit to protect themselves 

 against loss. A carload of Illinois peaches 

 was nothing but just peaches. They 

 came in all sizes, grades, shapes and con- 

 ditions. To make a fair profit on this 



HARBY W. DAY 

 "He knows peaches and how ie cash 



fruit it was necessary for the buyer to 

 grade, sort and repack it before selling it 

 to retailers. 



It was unfortunate that growers were 

 so careless of their reputations. But 

 then, their market was mostly local and 

 little was to be gained by careful grading 

 and packing. Prior to 1921, when a 

 grower had more peaches than he could 

 sell to the townsf>eople, he sold the sur- 

 plus to local dealers who repacked the 

 fruit and sold carlots on the principal 

 markets. 



The change in marketing that has 

 come to Illinois' fruit belt since 1921 

 was inevitable. Either the growers had 

 to adopt better marketing methods or 

 they would be forced to take prolonged 

 and indefinite "vacations." Too many 

 growers were dumping their produce on 

 local markets for any of them to remain 

 in business. 



Orderly marketing of fruit passed 

 through a gradual evolution following a 

 period of expansion during the World 

 War when southern Illincris farmers 

 gradually quit raising grain and livestock 

 to set out new orchards.' By the time 

 the trees came into bearing, prices for 

 fruit had receded to profitless low level. 



Large, well established orchardists 

 could pick enough fruit to make carlot 

 shipments to the big city markets and 

 thus get better than local prices. But the 

 unhappy growers who had only small 

 tonnages to sell had to take what they 

 could get in town or take the local deal- 



ers' prices which were little better than 

 other local prices. 



Big or little, old or new, all growers 

 were selling, or offering to sell dis- 

 reputable "Illinois fruit." . Prices were 

 low and chaos prevailad. 



Shortly after the war, increasing num- 

 bers of growers banded together to pool 

 their, crops in order to ship them in car- 

 lots and at car load freight rates. What- 

 ever the quality of the fruit and however 

 it was graded made no difference. They 

 got carlot rates to the Chicago market 

 and that seemed to be the important 

 thing at the time. 



Then there came "a period when there 

 was absolutely no money in growing 

 fruit. What was to be done.' 



Out of the crisis came leaders with a 

 plan. Their banner bore the cooperative 

 sign and they were ready for the fray. 

 The battle for better fruit and vegetable 

 prices began on September 14, 1920, 

 when the executive committee of the Il- 

 linois Agricultural Associ^on estab- 

 lished a fruit and vegetable marketing 

 committee. 



The committee, composed of C— F. 

 Kiest, Union county ; Frank Dieckmjm, 

 Cook county; A. O. Eckert, St Clair 

 county and A. B. Leejser, Adams county, 

 planned an early fight. Like capable 

 warriors they surveyed the field before 

 they acted. ~- 



The leaders chose C. E. Durst, Union 

 county farm adviser, for their field mar- 

 shal. Op December 14, 1920, Durst 

 started work as director of the fruit and 

 vegetable marketing department of the 

 lAA. 



Activities of the department began, 

 February 14, 1921, with the. organization 

 of the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange. 

 Headquarters were set up in Centraiia 



AUGUST. 1937 



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