' FARM SUPPLY 

 HAS NOVEL PROGRAM 



By MARY TUCKER 

 Editor of Pacemaker 



ILLINOIS Farm Supply Company mem- 

 ber-audience at the Sherman Hotel, 

 Nov. 27, saw an innovation as a dif- 

 ferent kind of annual meeting program 

 unfolded. Officers and board of di- 

 rectors filed upon the stage as usual, but 

 during President Fred E. Herndon's ad- 

 dress, he announced that all directors 

 would have a part later in the day's pro- 

 gram, each discussing a topic of vital 

 importance. This was a change in the 

 regular meeting routine, but was well re- 

 ceived by the delegates and others who 

 thought the subjects chosen for discus- 

 sion were not only timely but of funda- 

 mental importance to a better under- 

 standing of the organization's policies, 

 aims, and contributions to Agriculture. 



The topics discussed by the board in- 

 cluded: "Better Inter-Organization Re- 

 lationship, the Goal of 3-Man Advisor 

 Committees"; "Proper Absorption of the 

 Returned Veterans Who Were Former 

 Employees"; "'Service Brand' and its 

 Place in Our Feed Manufacturing Pro- 

 gram"; "Timely Counsel on Investments 

 in Fixed Assets"; "What New Services 

 Can We Properly Consider?"; "Is Our 

 Previous Border-Line Policy Still Ade- 

 quate?"; and "The Uniform Manage- 

 ment Agreement." 



President Herndon discussed "IJlinois 

 Farm Supply's Increased Participation 

 With Other Regional Cooperatives." In 

 this he sp)oke of the company's relation- 

 ship with other cooperatives; the forma- 

 tion of our first operating membership 

 in another cooperative, the Farm Bureau 

 Milling Company; our second coopera- 

 tive association, that with Indiana Farm 

 Bureau Cooperative Association, Inc.; 

 our third activity which took us into re- 

 search as a member of The American 

 Farm Research Association; and our 

 most recent membership in United Co- 

 operatives of Alliance, Ohio. 



C. H. Becker, manager of Illinois 

 Farm Supply Company, in presenting the 

 board of directors' report, said that the 

 19th year, concluded on Aug. 31, was a 

 year of uncertainty and great change, but 

 despite the problems of war and its after- 

 math the company had added another 

 brilliant page to its record as a history- 

 making cooperative. The most success- 

 ful year in its life span, the company 

 made a 15.3 per cent gain over last year 

 (the previous record), the total whole- 

 sale value of goods sold and transporta- 

 tion income amounting to $19,090,448.- 



22 



86. Members were happy to hear that 

 patronage refunds in the amount of |1,- 

 075,973.66 and capital stock dividends 

 in the amount of $51,784.02 had been 

 declared for distribution. 



President Fred Hemdon (leit) welcomes 

 two new members to the board of nii- 

 nois Form Supply Company — Charles 

 Eesslinger (center) and Otto Stefiey. F. 

 E. Morris was third member elected. 



"Sales of all petroleum products dur- 

 ing this fiscal period," said Becker, 

 ■ amounted to 132,148,985 gallons, repre- 

 senting an increase over last year of six 

 and one-half per cent. Stated in an- 

 other way, this is a gain of approximately 

 26 million gallons over the year 1941. 



A total of 55,144 tons, including 

 39,134 tons of Blue Seal feeds, 11,635 

 tons of ingredients, and 4,375 tons of 

 Service Brand feeds (manufactured by 

 the four newly authorized Service 

 Brand distributors) represents an in- 

 crease of 40 per cent over last year. 



The achievement of the Feed Divi- 

 sion, accomplished in the face of limita- 

 tions of both facilities and ingredients, 

 was small compared to what it could 

 have done had adequate manufacturing 

 facilities been available. Becker empha- 

 sized that greater manufacturing capacity 

 is imperative. The first step in such a 

 program was taken when the company 

 purchased the Benton Flour Mill proper- 

 ties at Benton, Franklin county, and be- 

 gan to remodel facilities into a com- 

 pletely modern feed manufacturing 

 plant, which will be in operation by 

 mid-winter. 



Probably the most notable develop- 

 ment of the past year was the plant food 

 program, formulated because of the need 

 of Illinois farmers to put back into their 

 land the minerals removed by heavy war- 

 time production. Although farmers were 

 unable to get more than a fraction of the 



plant food materials that they needed 

 during the year, much progress was 

 made. The total amount of chemical 

 fertilizers handled by the company was 

 approximately four and one-half times 

 the quantity sold a year ago. This in- 

 cludes 9,361 tons of mixed goods, 6,- 

 145 tons of superphosphate, 310 tons of 

 treble superphosphate, 4,047 tons of 

 muriate of potash, and 15,836 tons of 

 raw rock phosphate. | 



Becker stated that "the most important 

 single development in the Farm Bureau 

 Plant Food Program during the year was 

 the establishment of 55 complete soils 

 analysis laboratories by county Farm Bu- 

 reaus throughout the state. Eleven 

 others were in the process of being es- 

 tablished at the close of the year. This 

 program is making it possible to take 

 the guesswork out of plant food recom- 

 mendations. These laboratories, along 

 with the soil conservation services, place 

 within the grasp of individual farmers 

 the opportunity to make a genuine sci- 

 ence of soil management, which is the 

 basic problem of modern agriculture. 



Notable among the company's activ- 

 ities of the past year was the formation of 

 many new service companies out of pre- 

 viously large multiple companies. Becker 

 reported that fifteen new service com- 

 panies were thus formed. Also, there 

 were six elevator members who changed 

 their articles of incorporation and con- 

 verted to Farm Bureau type cooperatives. 

 Sangamon county was taken into our 

 membership during the year, which 

 makes service available now in 101 of the 

 1 02 counties in the state. 



In his closing remarks, Becker stressed 

 the need for new construction, modern- 

 ization,^ renovation, repairs, and new 

 equipment. He predicted that the pow- 

 erful nations and the powerful industries 

 throughout the world of tomorrow will 

 be those with vast research talent and 

 facilities. "He who would serve better 

 and hold his place in the competitive 

 system," said Becker, "must engage in 

 research on a large scale, and he must 

 master the research technique. We, as 

 an organization, must give a new mean- 

 ing to this word in the years ahead. It 

 is with these thoughts in mind that on 

 Jan. 1, 1946, we are creating a separate 

 'Research and Development' Division. 

 We propose to utilize this new, impor- 

 tant Division in carrying out actual phys- 

 ical research and to study the work of 

 other research institutions. We intend 

 also to collaborate with the University of 

 Illinois, the American Farm Research As- 

 sociation, and other public and semi- 

 public research organizations; and in 

 general it should be our purpose to do 

 whatever is necessary in the broad field 

 of research to make every phase of our 

 program progressive and sound." 



L A. A. RECORD 



