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ing to finance the project? 4. Will 

 farmers support it? 5. Is there need 

 for it? 6. Are transportation facilities 

 favorable? 7. Is the distance from a 

 cooperative outlet reasonable (within 

 40 miles)? 



Besides requiring the cooperation of 

 the farmer patrons to furnish a com- 

 plete marketing system, it seems essen- 

 tial that operations of country and 

 terminal markets should be carried on 

 under a unified plan. Perhaps under 

 one operational policy. One look at 

 the hog marketing situation today 

 leads one to conclude that a merger of 

 cooperative buying and terminal 

 market selling should be under a 

 unified head with one board of direc- 

 tors setting the policy for the entire 

 state. 



A plan such as this is being recog- 

 nized by leaders in livestock marketing 

 as being essential to future progress. 

 Such a plan must have the support of 

 the livestock producers. Otherwise it is 

 doomed to failure. 



The livestock producer is very much 

 in favor of local buying points for 

 hogs. He is supporting them by market- 

 ing his livestock through this organiza- 

 tion as well as furnishing operating 

 capital. This development has made 

 rapid progress in the past year. 



He also is strongly supporting ter- 

 minal marketing. About 85 per cent of 

 the livestock marketed cooperatively in Il- 

 linois is sold on terminal markets by 

 producer agencies. The remaining 15 per 

 cent is sold by the Illinois Livestock Mar- 

 keting Association. 



The department works for the bene- 

 fit of the livestock producer and is 



JULY. 1948 



TO THE 



anxious to assist in bringing about a 

 more effective and efficient marketing 

 system. 



Grain Markoting 



The present program of the grain 

 marketing department involves the 

 ownership of local elevator facilities, 

 river elevators on the Illinois and 

 Mississippi rivers, and terminal facili- 

 ties at Chicago and St. Louis. 



During the past three years the 

 department has promoted the organiza- 

 tion and operation of river sub-termi- 

 nal elevators at Dallas City, Havana, 

 Lacon, Hennepin and Morris. Some of 

 these elevators already are serving 

 farmers within a radius of 30 to 50 

 miles of the river points. 



Grain originating on Illinois farms 

 and marketed through Illinois Grain 

 Corporation, Illinois Grain Terminals 

 Company, the producers statewide 

 marketing company, and Indiana Grain 

 Cooperative will be eligible to receive 

 patronage refunds. These patronage re- 

 funds flow back to the local elevators, 

 county and river companies and finally 

 are distributed to the original pro- 

 ducers. 



The grain marketing department co- 

 operates with the Indiana Grain Co- 

 operative, with terminal elevators at 

 Indianapolis, Louisville, Evansville and 

 Decatur, Ala. The Illinois Grain Cor- 

 poration is the statewide commission 

 and brokerage grain firm affiliated with 

 the Illinois Agricultural Association. 



In developing the grain marketing 

 program in Illinois it is not the inten- 

 tion to have identical patterns in every 

 county. Instead, there will be varia- 



tions to fit the particular needs of 

 producers. A study of the entire 

 program will show that regardless of 

 location, any grain grower in Illinois 

 can fully benefit from the overall grain 

 marketing program. Such a study will 

 also reveal that while patronage re- 

 funds are emphasized, greater emphasis 

 has been placed upon the other more 

 important benefits to be derived from 

 a sound, orderly, marketing procedure. 



Fruit and Vegetable Marketing 



Practically all activities of the fruit 

 and vegetable department are carried 

 on through the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange at Carbondale. Services have 

 been concentrated in southern Illinois 

 where most of the fruit is grown in 

 the state. 



Marketing problems in this depart- 

 ment are probably less like those of 

 any other. Orchards are not sufficient- 

 ly concentrated and the products, main- 

 ly apples and peaches, do not lend 

 themselves well to centralized grading 

 and packing. Consequently most of the 

 fruit is graded and packed right on the 

 farm. 



Fruit, too, is highly perishable and 

 often must be sold the day it is har- 

 vested. Buyers must have a depend- 

 able source of supply. Buyer and 

 producer both benefit, therefore, 

 when a group of producers satisfy 

 this demand through their cooperative. 



Since fruit is graded and packed in 

 so many different sheds, it is most 

 difficult, even with constant super- 

 vision, to get exactly the same quality 

 in each grower's pack. For that reason, 



(Continued on page 26) 



