ILLINOIS FARM SUPPLY CO 



6m8 So 



CHICAGO 



and 17 local units, located in eight coun- 

 ties, were affiliated with the central Ex- 

 change. 



From then on marketing methods were 

 gradually changed. The first sale of the 

 new cooperative, a carload of transparent 

 apples from Johnson county, was made, 

 June 20. llie sale grossed $4.00 per 

 bushel while the same icind of fruit. 



similar in quality, sold by unorganized 

 growers brought only 13.00 a bushel on 

 the same market. Here was the first 

 triumph of the newly formed coopera- 

 tive. 



Earlier in June, 1921, the board of 

 directors met in Carbondale. At this 

 meeting, their first, they adopted a three- 

 year membership contract which required' 



members to pay a |5 annual membership 

 fee. Every member was also asked to 

 sign a collateral note for $100 to be used 

 by the Exchange in establishing credit. 



And so the leaders carried out their 

 first offensive against low fruit and vege- 

 table prices. They had organized their 

 army and were ready to fight harder than 

 ever for fair price and orderly marketing. 



One of the earliest cooperators was 

 Walter L. Cope of Marion county. He 

 is typical of the men who united to form 

 the Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange. The 

 Cope orchards wpre planted by Walter's 

 father and Walter grew up in the busi- 

 ness. 



The Copes operated a vinegar plant 

 when Walter was a young man. They 

 used their own apples and each fall the 

 younger Cope sola barreled vinegar in 

 several midwestern states. This paying 

 project became unprofitable with the in- 

 troduction of artificial vinegar and Wal- 

 ter and his father were forced to sell 

 their fruit on the open market. 



Walter Cope's years of marketing ex- 

 perience led him to develop a funda- 

 mental cooperative marketing philosophy 

 which is: "Cooperative marketing is the 

 proper way for farmers to sell their pro- 

 duce provided the cooperative is organ- 

 ized on a state- wide or national basis." 



Illinois Fruit Growers Exchange is 

 operated on a nationwide scale. The 

 National Fruit and Vegetable Exchange, 

 with representatives on all the major 

 produce markets in the country, is the 

 sales agency for the Illinois growers' ex- 

 change and most of the other state fruit 

 and vegetable marketing cooperatives. 



The Illinois Exchange handles produce 

 in one of three ways. In each case the 

 growers pick, grade and pack their fruit. 

 The better grades are packed under the 

 ILLINI brand label of the Fruit Growers 

 Exchange. 



One type of marketing is to sell the 

 produce to cash buyers at the orchard as 

 is often done in truck sales. 



A second marketing scheme practiced 

 by fruit co-ops is similar to the method 

 used in selling to the Minneapolis grocer. 

 The description of the produce is wired 

 to representatives of the national ex- 

 change on all the major markets. These 

 ageilfs secure bids for the fruit and tele- 

 graph them to the sales office of the Il- 

 linois Exchange. The local unit then 

 consigns the car to the highest bidder. 

 Tnis is the most common selling method. 

 The buyer pays cash on delivery. 



^The third method is to load a car 

 with a uniform quality fruit and send 

 it toward the market which is currently 

 paying the best prices. A description 

 of the fruit in the car is wired to all 

 Exchange sales agents after the car leaves 

 the shipping point. 



(Continued on page 24) 



20 



L A. A. RECORD 



