At speakers table during Ottawa meeting 

 are, left to right: L. D. Granger, III. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture; H. H. England, 111. 

 Food Lockers Association; E. G. Randell, 

 FCA; Proi. Sleeter Bull and Prof. William 



Everitt, both of U. of Illinois; Dana Cryder, from Rockiord, 111. 



ni. Cooperative Locker Association; Rev. 

 Fred Harrison, Congregational church, Ot- 

 tawa; L. B. Mann, FCA; Fred Ringham. 

 St. Louis Bank for Cooperatives, and 

 Norman Ralston, locker plant operator 



Plan Further Locker Expansion 



SPIRITED discussions on the future of 

 refrigerated locker service and its 

 place in the Farm Bureau organization 

 were held at conferences in Ottawa, 

 Feb. 18-19, and in Springfield, Feb. 

 25-26. 



The conferences were called by the Il- 

 linois Cooperative Service of the Illinois 

 Agricultural Association to acquaint lock- 

 er managers and Farm Bureau leaders 

 with the new Illinois Cooperative Locker 

 Association set-up, legal requirements on 

 locker operation, efficient handling and 

 merchandising of frozen foods and the 

 problems facing further expansion in the 

 Illinois Cooperative Locker Association. 



The meetings were presided over by 

 Dana Cryder of Kendall county, president 

 of the Illinois Cooperative Locker Associ- 

 ation. 



Leading the discussion on the future 

 course of the association, L. W. Braham, 

 manager of Will County Cooperatives, 

 Inc., and former Will county farm ad- 

 viser, declared that if the farmer cooper- 

 atives do not move into large-scale slaugh- 

 ter processing, "others will come along, 

 hire the best farm talent from among us 

 and take the lead in this field." 



George Metzger, lAA field secretary, 

 reminded the locker managers of the im- 

 portance of maintaining bargaining pow- 

 er in the purchase of locker supplies. He 

 also pointed out the need for a strong 

 state locker association with a board of 

 directors responsible to the Farm Bureau 

 membership of Illinois. 



Interest in the planning of slaughter 

 plants and slaughter processing plants 

 has been spreading rapidly throughout the 

 state, Fratik Gougler, lAA produce mar- 

 keting director, told Farm Bureau lead- 

 ers at both meetings. 



Farm Bureau people have already 



Dana Cryder 



L. W. Braham 



made plans to set up slaughter processing 

 plants in Champaign, McLean, La Salle, 

 Will, Kendall, Marshall- Putnam and 

 Adams counties. The plants will cost in 

 the neighborhood of $60,000 to $75,- 

 000 although the one planned for Will 

 county will cost an estimated $125,000 

 and will include lockers and facilities for 

 the handling of poultry. 



These slaughter processing plants will 

 be centrally located in an area in which 

 there are four or five locker plants. The 

 central slaughter processing plant will 

 kill, cure, smoke and chill meat and ren- 

 der lard for all of the locker plants in its 

 area. 



This centralization will enable the lock- 

 er plants to devote their chill rooms and 

 other space to the installation of more 

 lockers, some of which are badly needed. 



Macoupin county has already laid plans 

 for a slaughter processing plant at Carlin- 

 ville which will cost in the neighborhood 

 of $75,000. Bids have already been 

 called for and if this plant is finished in 

 the not too distant future, it may become 

 a model for other counties planning sim- 

 ilar plants. 



Another project which has been com- 

 ing to the fore in locker plant and 

 slaughter processing discussions is cen- 

 tralized rendering on a cooperative basis. 



First interest in this project appeared 

 to be centered in Southern Illinois, 

 Gougler said. Ten counties in the Carbon- 

 dale area have already appointed a com- 

 mittee to study and develop further the 

 case for centralized rendering. 



If a favorable report is returned and 

 other counties show interest, the render- 

 ing plants would •be planned on a state- 

 wide basis for the rendering of dead 

 animals and the by-products of locker 

 plants and slaughter processing plants. 



The slaughter processing plants would 

 be controlled by the management of the 

 locker plants and would require no new 

 organization. The rendering plants, how- 

 ever, would require separate financing 

 and control. 



Others on the locker programs in- 

 cluded: Paul Mathias, lAA secretary; 

 Prof. Lee A. Somers, College of Agricul- 

 ture horticulture department; Miss Franc- 

 es Van Duyne, College of Agriculture 

 food specialist (see women's page) ; T. L. 

 Gould, Lafayette Food Lockers, Lafayette, 

 Ind.; F. R. Oakley, former Peoria Star 

 editor. 



Prof. William L. Everitt, head of the 

 U. of I. department of electrical engineer- 

 ing; Prof. Sleeter Bull, College of Agri- 

 culture meats department head; C. G. 

 Randell, L. B. Mann, and Paul C. Wil- 

 kins, of the Farm Credit Administra- 

 tion at Washington ; Fred C. Ringham of 

 the St. Louis Bank for Cooperatives; 

 George R. Schlageter of Streator, and El- 

 lis Kugler, Co-op Locker Service man- 

 ager. Champaign. 



Men who took part in the locker conferences held in Ottawa. Feb. 18-19. 



lORD 



MARCH. 1946 



