rh« IM9 heard of director* of »h« INIneto 

 Friftt Orewort fxckong* Is sftown foflowliig 

 roorgoolxation et tlio orsonlzotlon't r»«ent 

 annual m—Hng In Ccwbondah, front row, 

 (Mt to right), K. S. McBrlda, gunaral mon- 

 ogar; f. O. Anderson, secrefory-freasurer. 

 Union; A. O. ttktrt, protldunt, St. Clair; 

 t. D. M€Oulro, vice pretUent, Jackson; back 

 row; C. R. Bofcmd, Ugar; N. A. Cummlnt, 

 Jolfarson; W. N. Baauman, Johnson; Dwight 

 Powell, Clark; Dr. L, A. Floyd, Bond; Arthur 

 foreman. Pike; and R. B. Endlcoft, Pula%kl- 

 Alexander. No* present was Roy tVleneka, 

 Colhovn. 



By JIM THOMSON 



Ass't Editor, lAA Record 



More, Better Fruit 



Fruit Growers' Annual Meeting 

 Warns That Consumers Will be 

 More Particular About Quality in '49 



HIGH QUALITY fruit was again 

 uppermost in the minds of mem- 

 bers of the Illinois Fruit Growers 

 Exchange gathering in Carbon- 

 dale recently for their 28th annual 

 spring meeting. 



"Better fruit, and more of it, is our 

 goal for 1949," President A. O. Eckert, 

 St. Clair county, told southern fruit 

 growers. Illinois Fruit Growers Ex- 

 change, with offices at Carbondale, is an 

 affiliate of the Illinois Agricultural As- 

 sociation. 



"People are now more particular about 

 their buying," Eckert said, "so our fruit 

 must be good to sell. However, em- 

 phasis on quality the past few years has 

 shown results because today our pack 

 is as good as any 

 in this area." 



Principal speaker 

 was C. G. Watkins 

 of the Fadler Pro- 

 duce Company, 

 Springfield, Mo., 

 who spoke on the 

 importance of pre- 

 paring a pack that 

 will retain its high 

 quality appearance 

 until the moment 

 the consumer buys 

 it. 



Speaking as a middleman, Watkins 

 said the grower shouldn't forget that the 

 wholesaler has his problems too. "His 



C. e. Watkins 



job," Watkins said, "is to sell as much 

 of your fruit as possible." 



"I'm not a grower," Watkins said, 

 "but I know what the consumer wants. 

 Pack quality fruit and keep your pack 

 uniform. The fruit business has a great 

 future. There is no food more habit 

 forming than fresh fruits. But never 

 forget that 85 per cent of all fruit is sold 

 on eye appeal." 



William Clemens of the Kroger chain 

 stores advised the growers to "live up to 

 the reputation of your labels so that 

 when the buyer sees your label she will 

 know your fruit is good without even 

 sampling it." 



Speaking as a fruit grower, L. L. Col- 

 vis, lAA secretary of marketing said, 

 "we, as growers, have a resfwnsibility to 

 our organization to grow the quality of 

 fruit the Exchange wants, and tack it as 

 the Exchange wants it packed because 

 the Exchange knows what sells best." 



In his annual report to th& member- 

 ship. Manager R. S. McBride predicted 

 an Illinois peach crop of two million 

 busliels in 1949 compared with 1,428,- 

 000 bushels in 1948. His report showed 

 that 70,000 less packaged units were 

 handled in 1948 than in 1947 although 

 gross sales returns were up nearly $40,- 

 000. Expenses increased $10,000 over 

 the previous year — half of which was 

 attributed to depreciation. The cold stor- 

 age building, operating on its first full 

 year made a profit of $4200. 



McBride reported good reception of 

 the Fruit Exchange peach brand labeled 

 Prairie Chief which was introduced in 

 1948. "People began asking for Prairie- 

 Chief brand," McBride said, "and that 

 is what we are aiming at." 



Manager McBride said he thought 

 more attention should be paid to fruit 

 maturity and tree-ripened fruit. It hurts, 

 he said when we market unripened fruit. 

 Demand slackens and it backs up on you. 



"Our quality is gooj now", he said 

 'but there is always room for improve- 

 ment. Demand for our pack gives us 

 cause to be optimistic about 1949, but 

 let's raise our sights on quality". 



Reporting on 1949 pest infestation for 

 Entomologist S. C. Chandler, Dr. Dwight 

 Powell of the U. of I. gave the follow- 

 ing information: coddling moth, possibly 

 severe; plum curculio, worse; leaf 

 hoppers, light; European red mite, 

 heavier; scale, moderate to severe; peach 

 catfacing, worse; oriental fruit moth, 

 worse; blotch on apples, light; black rot, 

 building up; brown rot, worse; rosy 

 apple aphis, building up; and apple 

 measles, general increase. 



The annual meeting in resolutions en- 

 dorsed "the program of horticultural so- 

 cieties in enacting a tax law to benefit 

 Illinois horticulture," backed efforts to 

 improve, develop, and expand facilities 

 at Southern Illinois University and called 

 for strengthening the laws of the state 

 division of markets. 



Elected to three year terms on the 

 Fruit Growers Exchange board of di- 

 rectors were C. R. Boland, Edgar; Dr. 

 L. A. Floyd, Bond; E. D. McGuire, Jack- 

 son; Dr. Dwight Powell, Clark; and Roy 

 Wieneke, Calhoun. 



Officers re-elected were A. O. Eckert, 

 St. Clair, president; E. D. McQuire, Jack- 

 son, vice president; and F. G. Anderson, 

 Union, secretary-treasurer. 



APRIL. 1949 



13 



