« 



iL. 



LJS-'- . 



J. H. DavU 



J. S. RufMll 



Farmer Cooperatives, predicted further 

 mechanization, fewer farms, fewer farm 

 families, and surpluses of farm prod- 

 ucts. 



On the bright side, Davis saw greater 

 demands from the increased population 

 in the United States. World demand 

 also will remain high, he said. Lower 

 income people have had a taste of 

 richer diets and are not likely to lose 

 their taste for meat. 



"Farmers are much better organized 

 than they were after World War I," 

 Davis said. "Our co-ops have kept the 

 cost of marketing animals close to the 

 depression level. Through our co-ops 

 we can take the lead in developing 

 larger markets. They are responsive 

 to the farmer. They can set the price 

 in the farmer's interest. From these 

 views it can be seen that I am reason- 

 ably optimistic about the future of 

 American agriculture." 



Illinois members of the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers board of directors whose terms 

 expired this year were reelected to 

 three-year terms. They were Vice Presi- 

 dent E. R. Gehring, Knox county, and 

 William Temple, LaSalle county. 



President Ted Funk expressed his 

 satisfaction with the record for the 

 past year, his first as head of the Chi- 

 cago Producers. Savings of $40,323.40 

 in 1947 compared favorably with a net 

 operating loss of |42,460.4l in 1946. 



PLAN NOW FOR 



ilnnnal 



THE ninth annual Illinois Farm 

 Sports Festival will be held this 

 year on Aug. 26 and 27 at its old 

 location on the campus of the 

 University of Illinois in Cham- 

 paign-Urbana. 



These dates were set last month 

 during the first meeting of the admin- 

 istrative committee and announced by 

 Otto Steffey, Stronghurst, Henderson 

 county, lAA director and chairman of 

 the Festival. 



This year district elimination contests 

 may be held in the mass entry sports 

 of bowling, and Softball, and possibly 

 the skeet and trap shoots and the folk 

 festival events. 



Plans for holding county and district 

 contests were discussed last month in a 

 series of county meetings. Many de- 



May 7 Deadline 



All teams of the Farm Bureau 

 Baseball League should be en- 

 tered with the state secretary, Roy 

 Johnson, lAA director of special 

 services, by May 1. Teams may 

 enter up to June 1 provided the 

 member teams in the affected dis- 

 trict agree unanimously to such 

 entry. 



The Illinois Farm Sportf Festival administrative committee discusses changes In plans for 

 the 1948 Sports Festival to be held at the University of Illinois. Left to right: E. H. 

 Regnler, U. of I.; A. C. Johnson, Kane county farm adviser; R. H. Holey, U. of I.; Secretary 

 toy Johnson; Chairman Otto Stefley; Mrs. Helen Turner, extension service; and Mrs. Alice 



Herren, extension service. 



tails will be worked out for the entire 

 Festival program when the state com- 

 mittee meets in Chicago early in April. 



Several events will probably be elimi- 

 nated this year since few persons 

 entered the contests. Knot tying, 4-H 

 marching teams and 4-H dramatizations 

 will probably be dropped. 



Rural chorus competition will not be 

 held this year at the state Festival if 

 plans are completed to hold district 

 Folk Festivals where participation and 

 competition points can be awarded. 



It is planned however to ask each 

 county chorus to be part of a massed 

 state chorus on the Thursday evening 

 (Aug. 26) program. 



A similar event is planned for the 

 Friday (Aug. 27) afternoon program 

 when each 4-H county chorus will be in- 

 vited to join a massed state 4-H chorus. 



Women's events will probably be eli- 

 minated and instead divisions will be set 

 up in the various events for men, women, 

 rural youths, etc. 



Golf and tennis may be added to the 

 calendar of sports events as well as mixed 

 teams in the 4-H and open division of 

 table tennis. In the Folk Festival Con- 

 tests Rural Youth, open, and 4-H divi- 

 sions may be added to the folk and 

 square dancing events. 



New events have been added from year 

 to year. One of the reasons given for 

 these additions has been advanced bv Roy 

 Johnson, secretary of the Farm Sports 

 Festival. Since the early days of the 

 Festival the age of Farm Bureau members 

 has decreased. There are now a greater 

 number of members less than 35 years of 

 age than there were 10 years ago. 



Over-crowding of many of the events 

 at the state Festival last year has been 

 one of the principal reasons given for 

 holding more district elimination con- 

 tests. 



Last year more than 2,000 Softball 

 players alone competed on campus ball 

 diamonds during the two-day contests. 

 District contests would eliminate a 

 number of these players before the 

 state Sport Festival was held. 



District contests would also cut down 

 on travel expenses and would balance 

 and increase participation in county 

 programs. 



APRIL. 1948 



