COOPERATIVES, 1920-32 315 



The most conspicuous example of a large-scale cheese-marketing associa- 

 tion was the Wisconsin Cheese Producers' Federation Cooperative. This 

 helped develop more effective sales programs for the marketing of cheese 

 produced by cooperatives in Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota. Its 

 history goes back to the formation of the Sheboygan County Cheese 

 Producers' Federation in Wisconsin in 1913. There were forty-three mem- 

 ber factories in the federation at the time, but its activities expanded. 

 Later the name was changed to the Wisconsin Cheese Producers' Federa- 

 tion and in 1928 to the National Cheese Producers' Federation. In 1929 

 the federation controlled about 60 per cent of the Swiss-cheese production 

 of Wisconsin and about 30 per cent of the limburger production. The 

 next year the federation was recognized as the regional marketing agency 

 of the Federal Farm Board ; late in 1934 it became a member of the Land 

 O'Lakes Creameries; and the following year it adopted the name of the 

 Wisconsin Cheese Producers' Federation Cooperative. 59 



Besides the marketing of grain, livestock, and dairy products, there were 

 some developments in the marketing of potatoes and tobacco. The cam- 

 paign to market potatoes cooperatively in the western Middle West 

 reached its peak in Minnesota. In 1920 falling prices prompted the growers 

 to organize the Minnesota Potato Growers' Exchange, a federation of 

 local shipping associations representing about 10,000 growers in Minne- 

 sota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Unfortunately, difficulties faced 

 it from the very beginning. Prices received during the greater part of 

 the first year were low when compared with those that buyers had offered 

 growers earlier that year. Careless sorting and grading, the transaction 

 of a small volume of business, the vesting of too much authority in the 

 locals, and disorderly marketing simply added to the general dis- 

 satisfaction. 



In 1923 the Minnesota Potato Growers' Exchange was reorganized and 

 set out to remedy some of the past mistakes. This time the locals were 

 ignored. The central body entered into contracts directly with the individ- 

 ual growers. But again disaster descended upon the group. Problems that 



59. William Kirsch, "The History and Accomplishments of the Wisconsin Cheese 

 Producers' Federation," Wisconsin Department of Markets, Vol. VI, Bulletin No. 5 

 (1925); Senate Document 95, 70 Congress, i session, pp. 9-12, 627-65; Fetrow, 

 Cooperative Marketing of Agricultural Products, pp. 23-24; R. W. Bartlett, Coopera- 

 tion in Marketing Products (Springfield, 111., 1931), pp. 75-78. 



