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SHOREHAM GOQPERATIVL OOLJ^ STORft.GE 



The following is a talk presented "by Tom Cook of Burlington, Vermont 

 and the Shoreharn (Vermont) Cooperative to the Frpnklin Co\xnty Fruit Growers at a 

 meeting held in Ashfield on March 1, I956. The general topic was req.uested "by the 

 county fruit commodity committee in a program planning meeting during the fall of 

 1955. 



"I am very pleased to have the opportunity to talk with you fellov.' fruit growers 

 today ahout our experiences with a Cooperative Cold Storage at Shoreham, Vermont. 

 And out of it I hope that you will get encoiiragement to go ahead with one of your 

 own hecause it will not only help you, hut it will help us. I firmly "believe that 

 if we here in the northeast could market oiir apple crop through a few large coopera- 

 tives that we could do a more orderly job, put "better fruit on the market, give the 

 consumer a "better value and have more money left for ourselves. This year's market 

 has "been an example of what happens when a lot of individuals try to sell a few more 

 apples than the markets will easily a'bsor'b. 



So much for philosophy. Now to get down to practical experience. I am going 

 to be extremely frank in reciting our experiences and tell you the things we did 

 wrong as well as those we did right. I hope that you will feel free to interrupt 

 me at any time that you have questions. I would much rather talk with you than 

 at you. 



During the fall and winter of ''+5- '46 we did a lot of talking a"bout a coopera- 

 tive cold storage plant, including a visit to Myron Lord, Kezar Falls, Maine and in 

 April 19^6 we finally incorporated and started "building our plant. There were only 

 five of us in the original organization and since our "bylaws called for five direct- 

 ors, we had no pro"blem with elections. 



Our first "big pro"blem was raising enough money to "build with. We did this 

 through sale of common stock to mem"bers and preferred stock to mem'bers and friends 

 and "borrowing the limit from the "bank for cooperatives. I would like to read the 

 section of the bylaws on these stocks because I think we have some pretty good 

 safeguards in them. 



We also use the common stock as means of allocating space in the storage. 

 The original membership of five has increased to nine. 



Our original plant had a capacity of '}^■,0Q0 bushels. We have since added four 

 controlled atmosphere rooms, one a year, with a capacity of 11,000 bushels each. 

 In each case members have bought common stock, we have used some of the storage 

 surplus and borrowed the balance. Our financial statement as of June 30, 1955 

 shows our present position. 



The benefits we have derived from the Cooperative as I see them are; 



1. Help at harvesting. V/e pick orchard run and ship to the storage as soon as 

 possible. 



2. This fast movement to storage helps keep quality up. 



