November, 1932 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Thirteen 



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Marketing' 



A PARTY of farmer elevator man- 

 agers and grain producers from 

 Livingston county on a recent tour 

 visited elevators at Graymont, Secor, 

 Kruger and Washington winding up 

 their trip at the million bushel 

 terminal elevator and offices of the 

 Farmers National Grain Corporation 

 at Peoria. 



Directors of the Farmers Grain 

 Co. at Fairbury, and of farmers' ele- 

 vators at Ocoya, Pontiac, and Rooks 

 Creek made the trip. 



Answering questions 

 about the service of the 

 Illinois Grain and Farm- 

 ers National, A. B. Sheel- 

 er, manager of the 500,000 

 bushel house at Gray- 

 mont, said: "Even though 

 our agreement says that 

 we are not compelled to 

 market our grain through 

 the Farmers National 

 only when it can give us a 

 Qet or on track price equal 

 to or more than I can get 

 from any other source, I 

 find that between 60 and 

 70 per cent of our grain 

 goes to the national co- 

 operative. The service 

 from the office at Pontiac 

 has been excellent." 



George L. Potter, mem- 

 ber of the grain market- 

 ing committee of the Liv- 

 ingston County Farm Bu- 

 reau, made a complete 

 report of the trip to the 

 Bloomington Pantagraph. 



He quoted Mr. Greiner 

 Df the Secor elevator to the 

 effect that about 80 per 

 cent of their grain went 

 to the Farmers National 

 Grain Corp. Mr. Potter's 

 report of the trip follows: 



Manager Smith of 

 Kruger said, "We came 

 into this program as one of the first. 

 We were required to buy capital 

 stock to the extent of $100 for each 

 10,000 bushels handled. For the pro- 

 tection of the few of us who 

 pioneered this field, we bound our- 

 selves together with an agreement 

 to market all our grain through our 

 own sales agency. We never altered 

 from the course and for two years 

 100 percent of our grain has gone 

 through the Farmers National. 



"Now that the success of the ven- 

 ture is assured, there being over 

 100 elevators as members in Illinois, 

 who have originated some twenty- 

 five million bushels of grain to the 

 Farmers National, we are allowed to 

 find a better market if we can. Even 

 though brokers continue to call us 



daily, I believe they offer no better of grain they sell to the Farmers Na- 

 market than the Farmers National tional." 



and 100 percent goes to it." a question was asked Mr. Wllke, 



Service Excellent "We understand from the opposition 



,, „ , - i.,. „, ,. to this program that the Farmers 



Mr. Esch. manager of the Wash- National hasn't employed good grain 

 ington elevator, said, "I was cautious ^^„ .,. .. ,^/ «1,„i„™a it,*.^ 

 of this proposition at first, and our "^^^' ^^^^ '^ ^^^ employed inex- 

 board was divided. But the service Penenced personnel, incapable of 

 is excellent and I find that approxi- handling such tremendous volume, 

 mately 90 percent of all our grain and, in the picture only for what 

 finds itself in the Farmers National they can exploit from the farmer, 

 hands. Here is the one great opportu- What has been your experience as 

 nity that has been offered the grain manager of this big terminal?" 

 farmer to organize and gain the ad- 

 vantages offered of co-operative sale Everything Business-like 

 of his product." 



The visitors were especially inter- Mr. Wilke answered: "I have been 

 ested in going through the million employed here since I was 13 years 

 bushel terminal elevator owned by old and have been manager for 

 the Farmers National and the in- many years. I can truthfully say 



that I have learned more 

 about the grain business 

 since the Farmers Na- 

 tional took it over two 

 years ago than I had 

 learned in all my past ex- 

 perience. Anybody that 

 tells you that their co-op's 

 men don't know their 

 stuff is crazy. They handle 

 everything on a business- 

 like basis and their cards 

 are on the table all the 

 time." 



It was reported at the 

 Farmers National office at 

 Peoria that with some 20 

 commission firms on the 

 Peoria market, the Farm- 

 ers National handles from 

 30 to 50 percent of the 

 daily receipts. 



Same Fight Repeated 



Mr. McClintock, mana- 

 ger of the office, said in 

 part to the visitors: "You 

 men, as directors of 

 farmers elevators out in 

 the country, have seen to- 

 day that you have not 

 gone far with the market- 

 ing of your grain. You 

 older men have been 

 through the fight. You 

 know of the storms of 

 disapproval from the 

 structive description of methods of grain trade that came. You know of 

 handling by Mr. Wilke, the manager, their first refusal to handle your 



grain. This avalanche of propaganda 



All Sold or Hedged 



against the Farmers National and 

 co-operative marketing is no differ- 



He said, "We have 985,000 bushels ^^^ ^^jj^^- ^^^ y?.V ^^^ ^!f ^ *^k* " 

 oo, w, yyc liavc i7o»,,wuv/ wuoiicio ^^^^ ^^ worthwhilc. You have been 



of grain on hand. We move in and 

 out about 500,000 bushels a month. 

 We have 27 different grades of wheat 

 here at the present time. It is all 

 sold or hedged. It is our job here to 

 receive the grain from the country 

 elevator, clean it, dry it, and blend 



paid with what it was worth to 

 firmly establish the Farmers ele- 

 vator. 



Profits To Grower 



"Now the Farmers National is the 



or process the various grades re- next layer on the cake. It is the ex- 

 quired by the miller or processor, tension of the farmers marketing 

 The profits from this business now machinery into the terminal. All the 

 go to the Farmers National, from profits from commissions, terminal 

 there to the Illinois Grain corpora- storage, processing, blending, etc. 

 tion and down to the member ele- belong to the farmer members. The 

 vators in proportion to the amount (Continued on page 15) 



