TWICE A WEEK PICKUP SEBVICE AT 

 tha iann — your cream check on the re- 

 turn trip. 



were getting 37 cents for their Grade A 

 cream delivered at any one of the eight 

 Illinois Producers' Creameries — a prem- 

 ium of from three to six cents more than 

 the Missouri price! 



5. A recent study of cooperative 

 creameries in Nebraska by the Farm 

 Credit Administration shows how farm- 

 ers there increased butterfat prices. As 

 the number of co-operative creameries 

 increased, the margin between the Chi- 

 cago 90 score butter maiket and butter- 

 fat prices at Nebraska country p>oints nar- 

 rowed. Here are the figures: 



1925, 11 creameries operating, margin 12.7}^ 



1926, 17 " •• •' 12.19 



1927, 20 ■■ " ■• 12.0} 



1928, 34 •■ •• ■• 10.54 



1929, 41 ■• •• 9.52 



1930, 47 •• ■• •■ 9.16 



1931, 48 •• " " 8.44 



1932, 43 ■■ ■■ ■■ 7.27 



1933, 4} •• •• " 6.95 



1934, 43 " ■■ " 7.05 



1935, 41 ■• ■■ ■• 7.38 



In the years between 1924 and 1934, 

 Nebraska farmers increased the price of 

 butterfat 5.77 cents a pound through 

 operating their own creameries. Says the 

 report of the study: "The fact that 

 the average margin has tended to remain 

 fairly constant since 1931 would seem to 

 indicate that the minimum margin estab- 

 lished by costs has been reached. It is 

 significant that this point was reached at 

 the same time that cooperative creameries 

 had been established in all the important 

 dairy regions of the state." Note, too, 

 that as the margin increased more co-op 

 creameries were established, a repetition 

 of what happened in Illinois. 



6. Butter fat prices have been raised 

 in the state since 1930 through the estab- 

 lfshn>ent of tight centralized producers' 



NOVEMBER, 1937 



cooperative creameries. Evidence is found 

 in a comparison of prices paid by the 

 pools prior to 1930 with those paid by 

 Illinois Producers Creameries today. 



In 1930, the Illinois Produce Market- 

 ing Association contracted to sell butter 

 manufacturers its pool cream at the 

 highest bids. The contracts provided for 

 a sliding price schedule based on the 

 90 score Chicago butter market. 



According to this scale, cream pools 

 sold butterfat to creameries at 34 1^ cents 

 when the butter market was 34 cents. 

 They kept about three cents to cover 

 operating costs and paid producers the 

 local market price which was around 30 

 cents. The profit was retained and re- 

 turned to patrons as patronage dividends. 



Compare this with present purchasing 

 prices paid by the eight farmer-owned 

 creameries in the state. With the 90 

 score Chicago butter price at 34 cents 

 a pound, patrons get 38 and 37 cents a 

 pound for grade A and B butterfat, 

 respectively, delivered at the creameries. 



Thus cream producers received about 

 32 cents a pwund for butterfat, patronage 

 dividends included, as compared to 37 

 and 38 cents now. Both prices are based 

 on the Chicago 90 score butter market. 



7. What would happen if farmers' 

 cooperative creameries were to suddenly 

 close their doors, stop buying cream? 



Price Jumps 3c 



One cream route in the state was not 

 paying its way. Pick-up service was 

 stopped. In less than two weeks former 

 patrons along the route complained that 

 they could no longer get fair prices for 

 their butterfat, that prices had dropped 

 three cents. They wanted the Producers' 

 truck to call for their cream again. 



The truck went back into service on 

 that route and fat prices jumped three 

 cents almost overnight. 



8. In most branches of farming, pro- 

 ducers are using cooperative marketing to 

 get better prices for their products. 



Tobacco growers are poorly organized. 

 They get only 1 2 per cent of the cigarette 

 smoker's dollar, according to the Con- 

 sumers' Guide published by the Con- 

 sumers' Counsel of the AAA. The ave'- 

 age retail price of a package of cigarettes 

 is 12.82 cents. Of that, the grower gets 

 only 1.49 cents. 



Compare this with the 60 cents of the 

 consumers' butter dollar Illinois farmers 

 get. 



Says the Guide: "Just as all the water 

 in a gallon jug must pass through a nar- 

 row bottle neck, so some farm products 

 must pass through a bottleneck in their 

 passage from a large number of farms to 

 a still larger number of consumers. ' 



Illinois farmers have invested $30,000 

 in nine cooperative creameries, or a 

 total of $270,000.00. They have re- 

 ceived $58,000.00 in dividends from 

 eight of the creameries now operating. 

 In addition, they have increased the in- 

 come of all cream producers in the state 

 by $1,500,000.00 annually. Through this 

 investment they have broken the eco- 

 nomic bottleneck between their farms and 

 consumers' table and are getting their 

 rightful share of the consumers' butter 

 dollars. 



Turn over a new leaf in your book of 

 facts and write: "Butterfat prices in Illi- 

 nois are AT LEAST three cents higher 

 because cream producers are operating 

 their own creameries." 



SOLVING KNOTTY CBEAMERY PROBLEMS 

 Nine Co-op. Creconeries giTe Frank Gaugler. left, and I. B. "Jock" Countiaa plenty 

 to think about 



29 



