Toiiiorroi^v's 



Co-op Leaders 



WHO will direct our farm co-ops 

 in 1968? How will they be 

 trained? Can they learn from* 

 our experience and our mis- 

 takes ? 

 And just as important, how can we 

 train young men today for the years a- 

 head? What chance do young farmers 

 have to get formal training in coopera- 

 tive organization and operation ? 



These questions perplex farm leaders. 

 As one solution the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association is launching a co-op train- 

 ing course for farm youth. 



The course will be held from Jan. 

 31 through Feb. 4 at Urbana. The Uni- 

 versity of Illinois College of Agricul- 

 ture will act as host. It will be con- 

 ducted at the same time as Farm and 

 Home Week but will not be a part of 

 the latter event. 



From 200 to 250 candidates are ex- 

 pected. Each of the counties in Illinois 

 has been asked to select three young 

 men for the course, one each from 

 Future Farmers of America, 4-H clubs, 

 and the Rural Youth group in their 

 county. 



The course is designed to train young 

 men as present and future leaders in 

 local and district cooperatives, either as 

 farmer board of director members or as 

 employees and managers. 



jhe four-day training course will 

 stress the increasing importance of co- 

 operatives to farmers. The program 

 states : 



"Mo si of the farmer's training has 

 been for production. But with four 

 out of five people. fighting to get food 

 prices down, and with food handlers 

 fighting to increase their percentages, 

 the farmer needs to pay more attention 

 to purchasing and marketing." 



After most young farmers get mar- 

 ried, and leave Rural Youth groups, 

 they have little chance to get formal 

 training on cooperatives, I. E. Parett, 

 lAA secretary of general services and 

 general chairman of the Co-op Train- 

 ing Course, said in announcing the pro- 

 gram. 



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"Before they are 30 years old, many 

 of these young men may be elected as 

 directors of cooperatives and because 

 they have been busy getting started in 

 farming, many have had little chance to 

 learn much about the philosophy of 

 farm cooperatives," Parett said. 



Others from the lAA working with 

 Parett in organizing the training course 

 are: John K. Cox, program director 

 and lAA director of rural school re- 

 lations; W. P. Peterson, Illinois Farm 

 Supply; George Metzger, lAA field 

 secretary, and E. D. Lyon, lAA director 

 of young people's activities. 



Much of the training during the week 

 will be done by the farm youths them- 

 selves. They will conduct panel dis- 

 cussions, speak in talk fest, and as a 

 final project, go through the steps in 

 setting up a farm service cooperative. 



lAA department heads and company 

 managers as well as staff members of 

 the College of Agriculture will serve as 

 instructors during the course. 



President Charles B. Shuman will 

 give the address of welcome and will 

 outline the aims and purposes of the 

 school, known as the Illinois Agri- 

 cultural Association Co-op Training 

 Course for Farm Youth. 



The business and economics of farm- 

 ing will be reviewed by staff members 

 of the College of Agriculture who will 

 discuss parity and the flexible parity 

 formula, the fact that farmers buy retail 

 and sell wholesale, and such matters as 

 the mounting costs of processing. 



George Metzger, lAA field secretary, 

 will give a brief history of the Farm 

 Bureau movement in Illinois, tell how 

 Farm Bureau policy is made, and dis- 

 cuss problems concerning farm legisla- 

 tion. 



I. E. Parett, lAA director of general 

 services, will tell the young farmers 

 how the service and educational 

 branches of county Farm Bureaus, the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association, and 

 the American Farm Bureau are organ- 

 ized to work for farmers. 



The aims and objectives of coopera- 



tives will be the subject of a panel dis- 

 cussion during one of the sessions. 



This panel will be composed of Fred 

 Herndon, chairman and president of Illi- 

 nois Farm Supply Company, Howard 

 McWard, manager of the Illinois Grain 

 Corporation, A. E. Richardson, manager 

 of the Country Life Insurance Com- 

 pany, Frank Wilcox, manager of Coun- 

 try Mutual Casualty Company, C. H. 

 Becker, manager of Illinois Farm Sup- 

 ply Company, and L. L. Colvis, lAA 

 secretary of marketing. 



Most of these men will appear later 

 in the program to explain the coopera- 

 tive or company they manage or direct 

 for the lAA. 



Becker will explain how the Illinois 

 Farm Supply Company operates as a 

 purchasing cooperative. Colvis and 

 McWard will tell how Illinois grain, 

 milk, produce and livestock are handled 

 in Illinois cooperatively. 



Richardson and Wilcox will discuss 

 the three lAA insurance companies. 



During one of the panel sessions 

 these men will act as "experts" and will 

 pay a forfeit if they are stumped by 

 questions from the audience of junior 

 co-op students. 



Those students who wish may enter 

 a talk fest and the best of the extem- 

 poraneous talkers will form a junior 

 panel of experts. The judges for this 

 contest will be J. E. Hill, director of 

 vocational agriculture in Illinois, Robert 

 Bartlett, farm economist at the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois, and Floyd Morris, vice- 

 president of the Illinois Agricultural 

 Association. 



During the closing hours of the four- 

 day course, the students, drawing on the 

 material presented during the sessions, 

 will set up their own farm co-operative. 



They will appoint an organizing com- 

 mittee, draw up articles of incorpora- 

 tion according to state law, elect a 

 board of directors, select a manager, 

 and then sell stock. 



On their way home from the Co-op 

 Training Course the young men will 

 visit outstanding Illinois farm coopera- 

 tives. 



LA. A. RECORD 





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