I. A. A. RECORD— January, 19^4 



11 



<i>>^ 





1933 Experience Shows f 

 Value Co-op. Marketing 



Harry Day Reports On Sales of 

 Fruits And Vegetables Dur- 

 ing Past Season 



H. W. BAT 



EXPERIENCES of fruit and 

 vegetable growers in Illinois 

 during the past season empha- 

 size the value of co-operative market- 

 ing, reports H. W. Day, director of 

 fruit and vegetable marketing for the 

 I. A. A. 



Growers who market strawberries, 

 peaches and watermelons through co- 

 operative associa- 

 t i n s generally 

 secure more 

 money for their 

 products than 

 other growers, he 

 said. The price 

 level of canta- 

 loupes during the 

 past season was 

 low but the fact 

 remains that 

 growers who be- 

 long to the Poag 

 and Beardstown co-operatives mar- 

 keted practically all their cantaloupes 

 while a substantial part of melons 

 grown by non-members were not sold. 

 The officers of our Beardstown as- 

 sociation state that if they had not 

 had a marketing association un- 

 doubtedly only a very small percent- 

 age of the crop grown in that com- 

 munity would have been disposed of. 

 Day states that the truck situation 

 is creating a problem that grows in 

 intensity from year to year. The 1933 

 peach crop was produced in a limited 

 area of southern Illinois overrun by 

 truck buyers. About 1,000 carlots of 

 peaches were moved by truck from 

 southern Illinois during the past sea- 

 son. Truck peddlers also hauled out 

 large quantities of strawberries, can- 

 taloupes, watermelons and apples. 

 Trucks have largely destroyed the or- 

 derly marketing of perishable prod- 

 ucts with the result that it is becom- 

 ing increasingly difficult to adjust 

 the supply of fruits and vegetables to 

 market demands in the various cities. 



New Co-ops. 



The Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion established several new co-opera- 

 tives during the past season including 

 the Edgar County Strawberry Grow- 

 ers Association at Paris, and the 

 Beardstown Melon Growers Associa- 

 tion. Assistance was given to other 

 local groups. 



The Edgar county association has 

 44 members involving around 200 



PACKING MBLONS AT BEARDSTOWN 



Careful selection, and packing: In standard sice crates earrylng melons of uni- 

 form hish quality Is an important part of the program of this co-operative or- 

 ganized by the I. A. A. and Cass County Farm Bureau. 



acres of berries. The sale of the crop 

 this year was handled through the Il- 

 linois Fruit Growers Exchange from 

 a central point in Paris. Approxi- 

 mately 15,000 cases were sold. Eleven 

 cars or around 4,600 cases were 

 shipped by rail and the balance was 

 sold to truck buyers. 



The average sale price was |1.40 

 per 25 quart cases f. o. b. Paris. In 

 the Centralia section more than 5,000 

 cases of berries were marketed for 

 growers through the Exchange; all 

 were sold to truck buyers. 



The Poag Growers Association in 

 Madison county has 33 members and 

 during the past season assembled, 

 graded, packed and sold 45,000 bushel 

 boxes of cantaloupes from their new 

 packing shed. The Beardstown asso- 

 ciation with 98 members whose acre- 

 age totaled around 700 of cantaloupes 

 and watermelons sold more than 20,- 

 000 bushel boxes of cantaloupes and 

 the equivalent of 37 carloads of wa- 

 termelons. 



Peaches Sell Well 



The Illinois Fruit Growers Ex- 

 change which was organized by the 

 I. A. A. 12 yrs. ago handled 309 cars 

 of peaches and an additional 15,000 

 bushels were sold direct to truck buy- 

 ers. The crop in the Centralia area 

 was only medium in size and prices 

 were generally satisfactory. The price 

 level ranged from 90 cents to |1.85 

 per bushel at shipping point. Carlot 

 shipments went in all directions. No 

 market was in a position to take a 

 great number of cars except at low 

 prices. 



If Illinois had had an additional 500 

 acres of peaches available, according 



to Mr. Day, the price level would have 

 been much lower. 



The Exchange marketed 52 carloads 

 of apples. The 1933 crop was one of 

 the shortest ever produced due to un- 

 favorable weather and unusually bad 

 insect and disease conditions. Sub- 

 stitutes for arsenate of lead proved 

 ineffective in controlling the Codling 

 Moth. 



Other commodities handled include 

 10 cars of cabbages, 13 cars of pears 

 and a few cars of other miscellaneous 

 commodities. 



The Exchange succeeded during the 

 past year in securing credit for grow- 

 ers, to buy spray materials, packages 

 and other supplies. The loans were 

 repaid out of the proceeds received 

 for products handled through the Ex- 

 change. 



Mr. Day concludes that if the great- 

 er percentage of fruits and vegetables 

 grown in Illinois of standard com- 

 modities could be sold co-operatively 

 net returns could and would be sub- 

 stantially improved. 



Tobacco Growers Get 



More Money For Crop 



Flue-cured tobacco growers are ex- 

 pecting to receive approximately $75,- 

 000,000 more for their crop this year 

 than they received for the 1932 crop 

 and around $60,000,000 more than they 

 got for the 1931 crop, as a result of 

 crop reduction efforts. 



In the preliminary sign-up 95 per 

 cent of the growers pledged them- 

 selves to sign formal agreements to 

 reduce production to requirements in 

 1934 and 1935. 



