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1. A. A. RECORD— January, 1934 



The p. 



P 



eoria rroaucers uairy 



Dai 



This Fasf-Growing Co-operative Is the Farmers' Answer to Dealer Domination 



:;;Vt\-: By "Jack" Countiss, Director Dairy Marketing 



AS this is written, organized 

 milk producers in the Peoria 

 milk shed have one of the 

 fastest-growing milk distributing co- 

 operatives in the country with 17 or 

 more trucks on the street daily and are 

 pressing for third place among the 

 distributors in this thriving city of 

 100,000 people. 



All this has been accomplished in 

 the short time of four months or less, 

 and grew out of the unreasonable de- 

 mands of certain dealers who refused 

 arbitration apparently because they 

 are out to swell their profits to un- 

 reasonable heights at the expense of 

 the farmers. 



On Dec. 1, the Producers Dairy was 

 bottling milk at the rate of 3,000 

 quarts per day and volunteer solici- 

 tors were calling on Peoria consumers 

 daily picking up new business. 



"We have practically no complaints 

 on either quality of our milk or upon 

 service," writes Wilfred Shaw, man- 

 ager. "We rarely have a customer 

 quit and all we need is additional vol- 

 ume of business which is gradually 

 being obtained through solicitors who 

 are being provided at no expense to 

 the company, by members of our vari- 

 ous local units. 



"There is no doubt that at the pres- 

 ent rate of growth this dairy will 



soon be the third largest in the city 

 and possibly the second largest by 

 the first of the year." 



The story of the Illinois Milk Pro- 

 ducers Association, the farmers or- 

 ganization, which set up and made 

 possible the Producers Dairy is an in- 

 teresting one. Organized by the Illi- 

 nois Agricultural Association and 

 County Farm Bureaus in the Peoria 

 territory about seven years ago, the 

 association was effective as a collec- 

 tive bargaining organization for many 

 years in getting reasonable prices for 

 the farmers who belonged. The base 

 and surplus plan was followed from 

 the beginning in an effort to control 

 production in line with market de- 

 mands, 'v //X' 



Dealer Activities 



In the beginning the Association 

 sold milk to eleven dealers but one 

 dairy, Roszell, began buying up other 

 dairies until recently there were only 

 four left. In the meantime, the Ros- 

 zell Company not only eliminated a 

 lot of competing dairies but became 

 part of National Dairy Products 

 Corp., the national chain. 



Dairy farms were established in 

 the milk shed which were directly or 

 indirectly controlled by the dairies 

 through financing, contracts, or direct 



ownership. These farms refused to 

 deal with the farmers association be- 

 cause they received base price for all ■ 

 of their milk and association members 

 were forced to sell approximately 

 50% of their milk at butterfat prices 

 or about l^^c per qt. ^ ; , , 



The Association members who had 

 purchased cows and necessary equip- 

 ment for producing high quality milk 

 did not believe it was fair to their 

 membership to have the dealers put 

 in cows and compete with them on a 

 market they were endeavoring to hold 

 up by taking surplus price, or about 

 75c per 100 lbs. for 50% of their milk. 

 In the meantime the dealers had in- 

 sisted that the Association should get 

 rid of the "straw stack" farmers, a 

 name they applied to small producers 

 the Association was attempting to 

 take care of. 



They insisted that if it were not for 

 the tremendous amount of surplus 

 which the Association insisted on sell- 

 ing to them at 75c per 100 lbs. or 

 about 50c per 100 lbs. net at farms, 

 they thought they could pay more 

 than 3 He per quart for base milk 

 which they were retailing for 10c per 

 quart. They even informed the As- 

 sociation's management that unless 

 some disposition was made of the 

 "straw stack" farnoers they would 



PART OF THE FLEET OF TRUCKS OF PEORIA PRODUCERS DAIRY 



Only a fe^ months old, the Peoria Producers' Dairy cwned and controlled by the orgnnized milic producers has shot ahead 

 as an important factor in the Peoria milk marlcet. At present rate of growth it will soon ranic third and promises to rank 

 "(•coimI within a t^-m months. More than 8,000 quarts •( milk dally are heins sold direct to the conKamer. 



