Fruit Growers Hit By 

 Economic Conditions 



See Need For United Action, Advertising and Cooperative 

 Mariieting To Boost Consumption of Apples 



i^OW economic conditions and 

 ^^1 1 ■ competition from citrus 

 _ '/ ^ fruits have seriously affected 



Illmois fruit and vegetable growers since 

 1929, particularly Illinois apple growers, 

 was revealed in the recent well-rounded 

 annual address of Talmage DeFrees of 

 Bond county, president of the Illinois 

 Fruit Growers Exchange. Speaking at 

 the annual meeting of the Exchange in 

 Carbondale, Mr. DeFrees said: 



"When I began to put apples on the 

 market 20 years ago, I wondered why 

 I had not got into the business of sell- 

 ing apples long before. Year after year 

 all I had to do was to produce good 

 quality fruit, — and it was easy to do 

 20 years ago, load it into the car, notify 

 the Exchange to sell it and then go 

 about my business knowing that when 

 the returns came back they would be 

 satisfactory. For years I netted one dol- 

 lar per bushel for every bushel that I 

 produced. The last three crops that I 

 have produced aggregated more than 

 fifty thousand bushels and I doubt if 

 they netted me ten cents per bushel." 



These facts are not pretty but they 

 are facts nevertheless and the question 

 is, "What are we going to do about 

 it?" I think all will agree that it is not 

 a question that any marketing agency 

 of itself can answer satisfactorily. I 

 think it is a question that if the answer 

 is found will require the whole-souled 

 united effort of the entire industry. 

 This is imperative if we are to see any 

 immediate upward trend in prices and 

 if our co-ops are to remain in the pic- 

 ture. 



Charging that one weakness of the 

 apple growers position is the result of 

 scattered production and lack of a co- 

 ordinated advertising campaign to make 

 the public conscious of the superior 

 value of apples, DeFrees said : 



"The greatest distress in our industry 

 is among apple growers. Has anything 

 been done constructively to cure the 

 ills of this industry? Has any money 

 been spent to advertise apples? Haven't 

 we depended upon the old adage, 'an 

 apple a day keeps the doctor away' 

 to sell our apples? We have made no 



bugaboo, the 



hurt immeasur- 



He referred to 



concerted effort even to keep this adage 

 before the consumer. Growers of 

 oranges, grapefruit, lemons, raisins and 

 other fruits are spending millions to 

 advertise the merits of their particular 

 product while we sit idly by doing 

 nothing, and I imagine in many in- 

 stances succumbing to their advertising 

 schemes ourselves." 



The spray residue 

 speaker indicated, had 

 ably the sale of apples, 

 harmful and erroneous publicity that 

 grew out of government orders to wash 

 apples to insure freedom from lead 

 spray residue. More recent federal in- 

 vestigations have shown that the con- 

 sumer may eat unlimited quantities of 

 unwashed apples without getting 

 enough spray residue to harm anyone. 



Commenting on the agricultural ad- 

 justment program, Mr. DeFrees said: 

 "The contention that a general rise in 

 the prices of basic farm commodities 

 will indirectly affect all other farm 

 commodities favorably seems to be 

 sound reasoning. Unquestionably when 

 AAA helps to restore parity conditions 

 for basic crops and with it national 

 prosperity fruit and vegetables growers 

 are bound to benefit. But the plain facts 

 are that growers of fruits and vege- 

 tables are in a more precarious position 

 today than they have been at any time 

 since 1929 in spite of all programs. 

 Only extreme scarcity has had the 

 effect at any time of raising prices to 

 a level where fruits and vegetables 

 could be produced profitably." 



NEW DELIVERY TRUCK OF 

 CARBONDALE PRODUCERS CREAM'RY 

 Serves the Fruit Belt with Prairie Farma 

 Butter. - ,; -A 



More diligence by fruit and vege- 

 table growers in exploring the possibil- 

 ities of marketing agreements and seek- 

 mg concerted action with the leader- 

 ship and counsel of the federal govern- 

 ment were recommended toward solv- 

 ing the price problem. 



"We have probably awakened to the 

 fact, " he said, "by this time that we are 

 engaged in the most hazardous field 

 of agriculture. I think it is fair to say 

 that those engaged in the marketing of 

 fruits and vegetables today stand in the 

 most difficult position of any group in 

 the whole field of marketing. The 

 prices of livestock and grain arc posted 

 daily and the producer of these crops 

 knows exactly what he can get but in 

 fruits and vegetables, the price quoted 

 is the price at which the broker or 

 commission merchant offers to sell to 

 the buyer. It is no indication that there 

 is a demand for any given quantity of 

 any commodity. "The housewife, the 

 grocer and others may not be in the 

 market at all. The quotation is more 

 or less meaningless for there may be 

 no demand. Many growers knowing 

 nothing of these conditions and yet in- 

 sisting that their products be sold, can- 

 not understand why no sale is made, 

 or if made under pressure to sell, is 

 made at a price well below that 

 quoted. . . . 



"I believe today just as I have for 

 20 years that the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange over a period of years can do 

 a better job of selling than I could do 

 myself, and just as long as I produce 

 apples, the Exchange will sell every 

 truck and carlot that I put on the mar- 

 ket. If every member of our organiza- 

 tion followed the same policy, I am 

 pretty sure that it would make a great 

 difference in the morale of both man- 

 agement and membership." 



Every day, the 290 cadets at the U. S. 

 Army Air Corps at Randolph Field, Texas, 

 use 225 quarts of milk, six quarts of cream, 

 24 gallons of ice cream, and 30 pounds of 

 butter. Reason: Vitamin A in dairy pro- 

 ducts protects against night blindness (in- 

 ability to see in dim light) a common dis- 

 order which may be fatal to aviators. 



Three advanuges of using soyx>il paint 



are; (1) long-lasting, fade-proof covering. 

 (2) The more soyoil produced, the greater 

 the supply of soybean oil meal resulting in 

 chaper livestock feed. (}) Creation of a 

 wider market for soybeans. 



Raise more per acre, get your livestock to 



do well on farm grown feeds and your in- 

 come will increase. 



"When farmers become truly grass con- 

 scious they will plant and manage grass in 

 rotation with other crops on good land and 

 not confine it to land not suited to crops. 

 Then grass will take its proper place in 

 American agriculture." 



JUNE, 1939 



29 



