December t 1931 



THE 1. A. A. RECORD 



Page EUvew 



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Sa V i ny Money on Feed and Supplle s 



How the Cook and Lake County Farm Bureaus Are Serving Their Members 





CO-OPERATIVE purchasing of 

 feeds and other necessary commodi- 

 ties through their local farm supply 

 companies is a project Farm Bureau 

 members in Lake and Cook counties 

 greatly appreciate. 



The Lake County Farm Supply Com- 

 pany, the first to handle feed in large 

 volume, is now getting out nearly a car- 

 load a day, selling livestock feeds to 

 approximately 1,400 farmers, according 

 to A. D. Smith, manager. The Garden- 

 ers' Supply, Inc., in Cook county, still 

 in its first year of business, handles 

 about two cars of feed a month. 

 ; Feed has been sold through the Lake 

 County Farm Supply since its organiza- 

 tion in 1928, along with fertilizer, seed, 

 potatoes, apples, fence posts, and other 

 farm supplies. About 90 per cent of 

 the Farm Bureau members are cus- 

 tomers of the company. 



Handle Variety Products 



Gardeners' Supply, Inc., was set up 

 in Cook county primarily to make it 

 possible for truck gardeners to secure 

 at cost insecticides recommended by 

 the University of Illinois, not readily 

 available locally, according to Farm Ad- 

 viser O. G. Barrett. Garden seed was 

 added later to help make the enterprise 

 pay. Truck farmers in Cook county 

 buy annually $1JO,000 to $200,000 

 worth of garden seed from independent 

 seed houses, Barrett said. 



Later fertilizer was added, and on 

 the suggestion of farm people poultry 

 and dairy feeds were included a short 

 time after the company began business. 

 The four main items handled now are 

 insecticides, garden seed, fertilizer, and 

 feed. Gardeners' Supply does not handle 

 petroleum products, but many Farm 

 Bureau members in the northern part 

 of the county buy from the Lake Coun- 

 ty Supply Company. 



$2 5,000 in 6 Months 

 The audit at the end of the first six 

 months, which include the best busi- 

 ness months of the year, showed a vol- 

 ume of approximately $25,000 of busi- 

 ness, or twice the amount expected. 



At the recent annual meeting of the 

 board of directors action was taken to 

 •set up a second unit at Blue Island to 

 serve the south half of the county. The 

 present warehouse is at Arlington 

 Heights in the extreme northern end 

 of the county. 



"This project is to be an important 

 factor in increasing Farm Bureau mem- 

 bership in Cook county on account of 

 the extensive dairy and truck farming 

 interests for which many projects of the 



TIIUCKLOAO OP DAIRV AiVD POl'LTICV FEED READY TO BE DELIVKREP 

 UV GARDENERS' SIPPLY, COOK COLNTY CO-OPERATIVE. 



organization had no appeal," said Bar- 

 rett. 



"To make Gardeners' Supply go 

 along with the general educational pro- 

 gram of the Farm Bureau, Joe Zick- 

 mund, a Cornell university man who 

 specialized in horticulture, was cm- 

 ployed as manager. 



Pays Out from Start 



"Our price of feed to members is 

 based upon the market price of ingred- 

 ients plus a fixed sum per ton to take 

 care of overhead, including milling, 

 freight, and handling costs. We man- 

 age to keep a little below retail prices 

 and were still able to declare a 3 per 

 cent patronage dividend at the end of 

 the first six months. We also set aside 

 a substantial sum for a reserve. 



"Since the Illinois Agricultural Asso- 

 ciation is not yet in a position to pur- 

 chase feed and fertilizer on a state-wide 

 basis, we find it necessary to buy 

 through the Indiana Farm Bureau. We 

 buy insecticides from Illinois Farm 

 Supply- 

 Formula on Every Sack 



"One thing I like about the Farm 

 Bureau feed is that it has its formula 

 on every sack," continued Barrett. "If 

 farmers think they can save money by 

 buying the ingredients and mixing 

 them, we sell them the ingredients. 

 There is no secret about this feed." 



The Lake County Supply Company 

 buys its feed from independent dealers 

 and sells at local retail prices. The 

 profits go back to members in the form 

 of patronage refunds. 



Farm Bureau leaders in both Lake 



and Cook counties believe that a real 

 service can be rendered Illinois Farm 

 Bureau members by large volume pur- 

 chasing and mixing of feeds on a state- 

 wide basis. In normal years when farm 

 prices justify the feeding of mixed 

 grains and concentrates substantial sav- 

 ings can be made to further reduce the 

 farmers' cost of production. 



Higher Livestock Prices 



Aim of New Sales Plan 



MACON county farmers who arc 

 shipping their Uvestock through 

 the Illinois Livestock Marketing Asso- 

 ciation are receiving better prices every 

 week than they would have received as 

 individuals from any other outlet, de- 

 clares William Fulk, manager of the 

 Macon County Marketing Association, 

 one of the member co-operatives. 



R. W. Grieser, sales manager for the 

 state association, attributes this to the 

 centralized direction of shipments oo 

 the basis of the latest market informa- 

 tion rather than by guess. Livestock 

 is directed to the market where it is in 

 greatest demand. 



The stock is assembled, sorted and 

 graded at the local marketing associa- 

 tions and on the shipping instruction* 

 of the state co-operative is sent either 

 direct to packers or to one of the Pro- 

 ducers' agencies on the terminals. 



The organization is sometimes handi- 

 capped by lack of sufficient volume of 

 the proper grades to bring the best 

 price, but that is a problem which will 

 have to be overcome by the farmers 

 themselves, Grieser said. 



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