

I 



ping associations. Livestock was re- 

 ceived, weighed, marked and consigned 

 to one of tlie Producer Agencies oper- 

 ating on our major terminal markets. 

 The association began operations with- 

 out selling any stock even though their 

 incorporation papers were filed on the 

 basis of a stock corporation. The first 

 |100 of working capital was borrowed 

 from one of the shipping associations. 



From the opening of the yards in 

 1929" until 1932, all animals received by 

 the association were consigned to Pro- 

 ducer Agencies on the public markets. 

 In 1932 when the Illinois Livestock 

 Marketing Association was organized to 

 furnish sales service on hogs, the Ma- 

 con association entered into an agree- 

 ment to appoint the ILMA as its agent 

 in the disposition of livestock. From 

 that time until 1939, a great many hogs 

 were sold to packers direct from the 

 yards, but remittance to livestock men 

 was not made until the hogs were 

 shipped. In December, 1938, the Ma- 

 con association went one step further 

 and set up a daily cash market on all 

 hogs brought to their pens. Cattle, 

 calves and sheep continued to be con- 

 signed to the cooperative agencies on 

 the public markets as in the past. 



Excepting years of drouth and other 

 years of unusual happenings such as 

 1944 when it was difficult to sell hogs 

 because of gluts, the growth in volume 

 of the association has been most con- 

 stant. 



Here are the totals by years of all 

 species of livestock handled by the as- 

 sociation : 



1930 8,770 



1931 - 10,186 



1932 ...„ 25,199 



1933 - - 38, 349 



1934 _ _.._23,444 



1935 15,516 



1936 21,113 



1937 22,232 



1938 - 23,314 



1 939 - - - 26,688 



1940 - - 28,433 



1941 23,078 



1942 29,785 



1943 -- 37,879 



1944 - - 35,691 



In looking over the years of oper- 

 ation, certain men stand out prominent- 

 ly as having done much hard work in 

 making the Macon County Marketing 

 Association a business institution of 

 which livestock producers of Macon 

 county can be proud. Perhaps the feel- 

 ing of the men who have labored to 

 establish this cooperative success can 

 best be expressed by a quotation from 

 J. Mason Knox — "It ain't the individ- 

 ual nor the army as a whole, but the 

 everlasting teamwork of every bloomin' 

 soul." 



Co-ops 



^kow the l/l/a 



f 



RENEWED interest in the future pos- 

 sibilities of grain marketing in Il- 

 linois results partly from seven or eight 

 years of experience of 20 regionals 

 throughout the United States. This 

 experience was summarized recently by 

 Harold Hedges, acting chief, coopera- 

 tive research and service division, Farm 

 Credit Administration, Washington, 

 D. C. 



Writing in the April issue of News 

 for Farm Cooperatives, Hedges said in 

 part: "The creditable showing of re- 

 gional cooperatives in marketing a siz- 

 able portion of the 1943 grain crop is 

 something more than the report of a 

 year of business activity. WTien these 

 regionals market a third of a billion 

 bushels in a year, when nine of them 

 handle tens of millions of bushels and 

 when 12 have savings in the hundreds 

 of thousands of dollars, it is no mere 

 accident." 



After a brief review of the history 

 of cooperative grain marketing in the 

 United States, Hedges concludes that 

 the operating results of the regional 

 grain co-ops to date provide pretty con- 

 vincing evidence that they are on the 

 right track. 



Hedges' report lists 20 regional grain 

 coops and two large farm supply co- 

 operatives with large grain depart- 

 ments. Seventeen of the 20 limit their 

 grain sales or handling to terminal or 

 sub-terminal markets. Local handling 

 is the principal activity of two region- 

 als, but they do direct grain from their 

 local facilities. The remaining associa- 

 tion is mainly a terminal marketing 

 agency and has a substantial interest in 

 a line of country elevators. 



Hedges' report cites comparative fig- 

 ures on 17 regionals from the year 1939 

 to date, a five year period ; their total 



net worth increased from 3 1/3 mil- 

 lion dollars in 1940 to nearly 16 million 

 dollars in 1944, when figured before 

 any distribution of margins over op- 

 erating costs. 



Most regionals are adequately fi- 

 nanced with farmers' money. The fixed 

 assets of the 17 companies increased 

 from 1.3 million dollars to 6.2 million 

 dollars in the 5 years. Total elevator 

 capacity owned and leased by the re- 

 gionals reviewed is around 36 million 

 bushels. 



Grain volume increased from 105 

 million bushels to 300 million bushels 

 in the same period. 



In services rendered, six regionals 

 operate almost exclusively on a com- 

 mission-brokerage basis, finding buyers 

 for grain consigned to them by farm- 

 ers' elevators, while 14 offer additional 

 services, mainly merchandising. 



In conclusion Hedges said, "There is 

 a decided correlation between both 

 grain volume and marketing services 

 and the margins over operating costs 

 realized by the individual regionals. 

 Four regionals which have substantial 

 elevator capacity and took title to near- 

 ly all the grain handled had net savings 

 in 19431944 above 4 cents a bushel. 

 At the lower end of the scale four re- 

 gionals doing a strictly commission- 

 brokerage business had savings of less 

 than a cent a bushel. All associations 

 operated in the black with aggregate 

 net savings in excess of 7 million dol- 

 lars. 



"A particularly encouraging sign for 

 the future, " Hedges said, "is a growing 

 tendency for the regionals to work 

 closely together on mutual interest." 



Thia is the Indiana Grain Co-OperortiTe 

 terminal elevator ot Indianapolia whidi 

 was purchased in 1338 and has IV2 million 

 bushel capacity. Indiana Grain also owns 

 a half-million bushel terminal elevator at 

 Louisville, Ky. Illinois Grain Corporation 

 members have an interest in these prop- 

 erties through holding approximately one- 

 third of a million dollars ol stock in In- 

 diana Grain. These holdings were ac- 

 quired through patronage earnings. 



MAY. 1945 



