MARKETED IN 1943 BY LEE COUNTY CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION 



I 



N THE fall of 1932 a group of Farm 

 Bureau members launchea the Lee 

 County Grain Association to pro- 

 vide a cooperative outlet for grain 

 products in the northeastern section of 

 the county. The co-operative started 

 in practically a minus financial position. 

 Today its farmer-members have a co- 

 operative with total net assets of $120,- 

 000, including a surplus of 196,000. In 

 1943 it did over a million dollars in 

 business, paid a patronage dividend of 

 $27,440, and added $22,000 to surplus. 

 Is it any wonder that folks say, "it pays 

 to cooperate?" 



Lee County Grain boosted its market- 

 ings from 395,000 bushels in 1933 to 

 more than one million bushels in 1943. 

 Merchandise sales alone amounted to 

 $185,868 in 1943. It would only take 

 about one and one-half days of the 

 1943 merchandise business to equal the 

 total merchandise business in 1933. 



Another way of looking at the co- 

 operative's 1943 business statement is 

 to report that it established an average 

 daily volume of 3600 bushels of grain 

 and $620 in merchandise sales in the 

 12-month fiscal period. Regardless of 

 how the accomplishments of the Lee 



Glenn Gonnennan, patron, and Joy Sand- 

 rock, secretary-treasurer, examine a grain 

 sample with Manager Nathan Sword oi 

 the Ashton elevator. 



■County Grain Association are esti- 

 mated, they all point to one conclusion : 

 there are no limits to what co-opera- 

 tive-minded farmers with an able board 

 of directors and good management can 

 -do in the field of marketing. 



Like many other successful co-opera- 

 tives, Lee County Grain had one im- 

 portant asset when it opened for busi- 

 ness and that was a group of farmers 

 who believed in co-operation. In the 

 northeastern part of the county there 

 were five idle elevators with a short 

 line railroad running through the heart 



By CRESTON FOSTER 



of the territory, the Lee County Cen- 

 tral Electric which connected with the 

 C. B. & Q. at Amboy. This line hadn't 

 been used for a number of years. Other 

 co-operatives in the county had been 

 successfully launched, so a group of 

 farmers and Farm Adviser C. E. Yale 

 decided to see what could be done 

 about aiding producers in marketing 

 their grain. The co-operative was or- 

 ganized with the Lee County Farm Bu- 

 reau holding "B" stock. Lee County 

 Grain was to originate the grain under 

 contract with the Lee County Elevator 

 Company, a privately owned company 

 which was to serve as the operating 

 unit leasing the elevators and railroad. 

 Lee County Grain, as a member of the 

 Illinois Grain Corporation, would re- 

 ceive patronage dividends on its grain 

 marketings. Under this setup, Lee 

 County Grain was able to organize 

 practically without an investment. 



Organization was completed Oct. 14, 

 1932, and Glen Hart, who served as 

 president until three years ago, recalls 

 that on the day operations were begun 

 farmers were offered a full cent more 

 per bushel for their grain by other 

 private elevators in the adjacent terri- 



tory than they had previously been 

 offering. The co-operative had already 

 exerted an influence on the market. In 

 those- days. Hart remembers, corn was 

 selling as low as 12 cents a bushel. 

 There were some pretty hard times and 

 in 1935 Lee County Elevator Company 

 was unable to secure capital to complete 

 operations and Lee County Grain took 

 over all debts and leases on the ele- 

 vators from the private operator. Some 

 $1600 of preferred stock was sold by 

 Lee County Grain and a loyal group of 

 farmer-members who had faith in their 

 co-operative pledged their efforts 

 toward maintaining a grain marketing 

 service in their community. 



From 1935 to 1938, members didn't 

 get any patronage dividends from their 

 co-operative because it was concen- 

 trating on building its financial struc- 

 ture soundly. But from the beginning, 

 member patrons increased in number 

 because of the service offered and be- 

 cause they were made to feel they were 

 a part of the organization. Annual 

 meetings were well attended as invita- 

 tions were extended not only to the Mr. 

 and Mrs. of the family, but to the 

 children. Each family brought a bas- 



Directors of the Lee County Grain As- 

 sociation gather at the home oi Frank 

 Mynard, (center) retiring director, ior their 

 organization meeting and present him with 

 an end table. Standing, left to right, Wes- 



ley Attig, president- Holly Smith, R07 

 McCracken, Clarence Hart, vice-presidenL 

 and Glenn Pioutz. Absent are Joy Sand- 

 rock, secretory-treaaurer, and Arthur Buric- 

 hardt diiacter. 



{ 



':>. 



iV 



■k> 



:16 



I. A. A. RECORD 



