Chicago Producers 

 ,« 17th Meeting 



Handle More Than $30,000,000 of Livestock in '38 

 ^^^^ I .,/'-:,,. ■ ;■;■;•::■-;,■ -..■,„, . ' v 

 4i\yJ*V ACTUATION of p 



jrice 

 — f ■ - levels is the most serious 

 «y problem facing the live- 

 stock industry." 



Thus keynoted H. H. Parke, DeKalb 

 county, president of the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers Commission Association, before 

 some 700 stockmen from Illinois, In- 

 diana, Iowa and Wisconsin at the Chi- 

 cago Producers 17th annual meeting in 

 the LaSalle Hotel, Chicago, March 7. 

 The CPCA is the largest of 23 cooper- 

 ative livestock marketing agencies op- 

 erating in important central markets 

 coast to coast. 



Most important facts coming out of 

 the meeting were: 



(1) With slaughter of cattle, sheep 

 and ' lambs under federal inspection 

 ranging above the ten year average and 

 hog^ slaughter running somewhat be- 

 low the average, the Producers volume 

 swelled from 18,413 carloads in 1937 

 to 18,594 in 1938, a gain of 181. 



(2) The Producers handled 14.53 

 per cent of the livestock on the Chi- 

 cago market (value $30,110,634.51) 

 or more than the combined volume of 

 the next three largest competitors. 



(3) With value per car averaging 

 $1610 or one-seventh less than the 

 $1879 received in 1937, producers were 

 still getting two-thirds more than the 

 1934 prise of $967 per car. Average 

 prices for 1935 and 1936 were $1618 

 and $1668. 



(4) Animals from 27 states and 

 Canada were marketed by the agency 

 during the year. Leading state was 

 Illinois with 14,648 cars. Dividing the 

 receipts into Species, the co-op handled 

 194,000 cattle, 49,018 calves, 561,987 

 hogs and 393,990 sheep. 



(5) Report of Henry Wei land, Be- 

 loit, Wis., secretary-treasurer, revealed 

 net income of the association at $3,- 

 046.79, net worth at $243,047.76. 



(6) The latter half of 1938 wit- 

 nessed the greatest upswing in indus- 

 trial activity ever seen in so short a 

 period holding livestock prices steady 

 in the face of ample feed and livestock 

 supplies. 



President Parke, urging wider use of 

 research in securing economic and mar- 

 ket information, said producers have 

 learned the science of production and 

 now must learn the science of market- 

 ing based on sound economics. 



"Concentrated buying power must be 



met with concentrated selling power; 

 informed buyers must be matched with 

 informed sellers if we are to have or- 

 derly marketing on a national basi.s. 

 The development of greater numbers 

 of marketing centers is demoralizing 

 centralized, concentrated marketing," 

 he said. 



Manager D. L. Swanson praised the 

 work of Producers sales force. He re- 

 ported that in addition to selling fat 

 stock, the agency purchased 803 car- 

 loads of feeding animals for patrons. 

 Illinois feeders bought 639 of these 

 cars. 



L. J. Quasey, commerce counsel of 

 the National Livestock Marketing Asso- 

 ciation, pointed out the need for an 

 extension of stocker and feeder rates, 

 especially in Illinois. Feeders now pay 

 fat stock rates on all rail shipments of 

 livestock. 



The part being played by the Nation- 

 al Livestock and Meat Board in gain- 

 ing larger meat consumption was 

 dramatically presented in a pork cut- 

 ting demonstration by Max Cullen. 

 Farmers saw how butterfly pork chops, 

 frenched rib chops, crown roasts, ham 

 butt slices and other attractive cuts are 



made from cheaper cuts of pork. Butch- 

 ers, Max explained, are dressing up the 

 cheaper cuts to induce housewives to 

 use them and thus increa.se meat sales. 



Aimed, too, at increasing meat sales 

 was a resolution urging identification of 

 beef carcasses as to grade and sex. The 

 resolution asked that government grad- 

 ing agencies work out a plan for such 

 classification. The plan would help con- 

 sumers to get the kind and quality of 

 beef they desire at each purchase. 



Attacking the problem of rapid 

 changes in livestock price levels, R. C. 

 Ashby, University of Illinois, told farm- 

 ers they can improve prices by: 



^ 1. Insisting upon competitive sales, 

 Aore effective selling. 



2. Choosing which markets are 

 worthy of support and patronizing 

 them. 



3. Insisting upon better coordina- 

 tion between public markets in re- 

 porting sales on the basis of livestock 

 grades. 



4. Supporting effective livestock 

 marketing research and using its re- 

 sults. 



). Demanding a practical and effec- 

 tive system of meat grading and grade 

 identification — for the mutual ben- 

 efit and protection of producers, proc- 

 essors, retailers, and consumers. 



6. Demanding a simple and work- 

 able set of grade standards for lard, 

 with official government grading 

 available on the top grade, with the 

 Department of Agriculture definitely 

 undertaking to inform the public re- 

 garding that grade. 



Directors re-elected were: Frank A. 

 Snodgrass, District 3, Geneseo, Illinois; 

 Earl R. Gehring, District 4, Galesburg, 

 Illinois; and Charles G. Hearst, Dis- 

 trict 6, Cedar Falls, Iowa. 



12 



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PORK IN FANCY DRESS 

 Mox Cullan. world raknown maoi cuttar, showa Hanrr Wailand, laft Chicago 

 Producars aacratary-traasurar, and H. H. Parka. CPCA prasidant, how butchan can drasa 

 up chaapar cuts of pork to tail more of them. Max comparaa a cantor sUca of horn, on 

 axpanaiva cut with a ham butt slica. a cut usually sold at coat to gat rid ei it Fancy 

 cuta from low-cost pork loin onda ora shown on tha plottar. 



LA. A. RECORD 



