AN ALL-TIME HIGH IN SALES 



C. H. Becker 



OUTSTANDING achievements in the 

 field of cooperative purchasing of 

 supplies are revealed in the annual re- 

 port of the Illinois Farm Supply Com- 

 pany. 



IFS has just set an all-time record in 

 sales, according to figures presented at its 

 annual meeting held in conjunction with 

 the 30th annual sessions of the lAA. 



Total wholesale value of all goods sold 

 during the year amounted to nearly 15 

 million dollars, representing a 6.2 per 

 cent gain over last year, the previous high 

 record, according to Manager C. H. Beck- 

 er. 



Farmer patrons have shared in this 

 business. During the year, more than 

 2 million dollars in patronage dividends 

 were returned to members on retail pur- 

 chases of 20 million dollars from 65 

 local service companies. 



IFS' petroleum service also has played a 

 vital part in wartime food production 

 through maintaining a constant flow of 

 petroleum products to bulk plants and 

 to the farms. In spite of many obstacles, 

 the petroleum division of IFS delivered 

 18 million gallons more fuel than in 

 1941, the last peace-time year. During 

 May and June alone IFS gallonage ex- 

 ceeded that of the entire year of 1932. 



Of the 124 million gallons of pe- 

 troleum products delivered by IFS, 78 

 per cent was handled by its own marine 

 and motor transport system. 



In addition, some 39,337 tons of feed 

 and feed ingredients were distributed by 

 the company's feed division. 



Now IFS is looking ahead to further 

 services to its members through new 

 developments in its programs for manu- 



15 MILLION DOLLARS 



IN SALES 



IS RECORD SET 



BY ILLINOIS 



FARM SUPPLY 



COMPANY 



facturing and distributing feeds and 

 plant foods. 



The Service Brand feed program pro- 

 vides for local Farm Bureau cooperative 

 associations to grind and mix feeds in 

 the localities where the feed grain is 

 grown. This program is designed to as- 

 sure top quality feeds through careful 

 laboratory testing and to take full ad- 

 vantage of economies made possible 

 through transportation savings on local- 

 ly-grown grain and protein products. 

 Certain pre-mixes involving possibly 200 

 to 400 pounds in each ton of complete 

 feed will be prepared by IFS in its cen- 

 tral mills. 



Service Brand feed program is not 

 intended to replace Blue Seal feeds but 

 rather to augment them and to render a 

 more complete service. Service Brand 

 merely identifies the feed as having been 

 partially mixed locally. Its formulation 

 and quality will be comparable with Blue 

 Seal. 



In the new plant food program, IFS, 

 with similar cooperatives in Indiana, Wis- 

 consin, and Minnesota, is setting up an 

 acidulating plant and enlarging a mixing 

 plant for processing and mixing fertiliz- 

 ers. The acidulating plant will turn out 

 40,000 tons of superphosphate per year 

 and the mixing plant 30,000 tons of 

 mixed fertilizers. 



The same quality supervision given to 

 the feed program will be given to the 

 manufacture of plant foods. 



One of the most important services 

 that IFS is giving its patrons is in its 

 technical department which was expanded 

 during the past year when it was moved 

 to Naperville. Some 4762 tests and 

 analyses were made here in the year in 

 regular quality control work, while 544 

 experiment tests were conducted for the 



Dr. George Scarseth 



petroleum, feed, and general purchasing 

 division. One of the main reasons that 

 IFS was founded was to provide farmers 

 with quality products and this depart- 

 ment is carrying out that aim. 



A considerable amount of experimen- 

 tal work was conducted by this depart- 

 ment with anti-rust compounds, lubricat- 

 ing stocks and additives, and grease ma- 

 terials. 



Many chick feed experiments were car- 

 ried on, and in addition, experiments 

 were set up to determine the effects of 

 certain ingredients and vitamin carriers 

 upon egg production, fertility, and hatch- 

 ability. A small experimental farm is 

 also operated by the IFS research depart- 

 ment so that tests can be made under 

 actual farm conditions. 



One of the most important assign- 

 ments of the laboratory is the control of 

 quality in the Service Brand feed pro- 

 gram. It is the duty of the technical de- 

 partment to safeguard the quality of all 

 IFS products and to investigate and re- 

 port new technical findings in all fields 

 related to company's business. IFS also 

 is one of the active participants in the 

 American Farm Research Association. 



A whole, rich new continent is repre- 

 sented in the discoveries already made in 

 agriculture but not put into practical use 

 on an extensive scale, Dr. George D. 

 Scarseth, director of research for the 

 American Farm Research Association, de- 

 clared at the IFS meeting. 



"In agriculture," Scarseth said, "we 

 have the scientific information that can 

 make any land highly productive. No 

 soil need be poor if we want it to be 

 rich. . . .Since we have these facts, why 



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36 



I. A. A. RECORD 



