B^loru a map of riffnefs Uvesfeck Marketing 

 Assecifrtfefi ifictricts itudsnta and teachers 

 In the Mclean ceenty short course tor young 

 farm leaden discuss marketing. Left to 

 right! Oonahf Vance; L, H. Hennlnger, man- 

 ager, MtLean County livestock Marketing 

 Association; Gene Tyner; H, W, Trautmann, 

 manager, llllnol* livestock Marketing Atto- 

 elation. 



By JIM THOMSON 



Ass't Editor, lAA RECORD 



Counties! Please Copy 



McLean Builds Reserve of Leader 

 Material By Training Young Farmers 

 in Co-op Operations 



Mi 



'clean is a big county. It has 



more than 4,100 Fann Bureau 



members. Its soil is rich and its 



crops are abundant. Its farmers 



'are progressive and loyal to their 



organization. 



So McLean might be expected to come 

 up with an idea now and then — a 

 pace-setter for other Farm Bureaus. And 

 through the years this often has hap- 

 pened. But several weeks ago they put 

 into effect an idea that probably will 

 have lasting results for years to come. 



One day Asa B. Gulp, county organi- 

 zation director, sat in his office thinking 

 about two things which, when put to- 

 gether, troubled him. Farm Bureau mem- 

 bership had risen over 4,000 and more 

 than 150 farmers in the county were 

 sitting on boards of directors of farm 

 organizations. 



"How," "A. B." reasoned, "can new 

 members of these boards of directors do 

 the right thing for the 4,000 unless they 

 are properly trained or informed?" The 

 answer appeared to be — - conduct a 

 course of^ training for future McLean 

 county farm leaders. 



A. B. took his proposal to the Farm 

 Bureau board of directors. They were 

 enthusiastic about it and voted funds 

 to help conduct it. Next he got financial 

 backing from the Service Company, Fed- 

 eral Land Bank, Production Credit As- 

 sociation, Prairie Farms Creamery of 

 Bloomington, the Country Insurance 

 Companies, the County Livestock and 

 Locker Companies, and the REA. 



Farm Bureau township representatives 

 were allowed to select three promising 

 young men each from the age bracket 



25-35 to attend the school, and for each 

 |25 contributed each co-op was allowed 

 to select one student to attend the school 

 each Thursday for five weeks. 



The five session course ended March 

 17 and was reported a huge success. At- 

 tendance was unusually high at all ses- 

 sions. Farm Bureau leaders in the count)' 

 carried the course one step further by tak- 

 ing all with high attendance records to 

 Chicago for visits to the lAA offices, the 

 Board of Trade, Stock Yards, etc. 



One hundred thirty students were 

 chosen for the courses of instruction 

 which included a history of farm organi- 

 zation and its causes; the development of 

 Farm Bureau; farm prices and farm price 

 supports; the history, development, prob- 

 lems, and philosophy of farm coopera- 

 tives; an outline of the organization and 

 functions of such loan organizations as 

 Production Credit and Federal Farm 

 Loan; and a study of the problems of 

 farmers without electricity and what they 

 did to get it through the Rural Electrifi- 

 cation Administration. 



Among those who took part in con- 

 ducting the course and instructing the 

 students were oflFicers and management 

 of Farm Bureau, county cooperatives, 

 farm loan organizations, the REA, the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association, and the 

 University of Illinois. Representing the 

 lAA were G. E. Metzger, secretary of or- 

 ganization and information; L. L. Colvis, 

 secretary of marketing; Sam Russell, di- 

 rector of livestock marketing; O. D. 

 Brissenden, director of organization. 



Other speakers included Dr. L. F. 

 Stice of the department of agricultural 



1. L. Colvis, lAA teeretary of marketing, em- 

 phasize* a point during his talk on general 

 farm marketing problems before a session 

 of the Mclean County Farm Bureau's school 

 to promote farm organization leadership. 



economics. University of Illinois; Dr. 

 Frank Gougler, retired produce market- 

 ing director for lAA; Everett Read, Jo 

 Daviess county, longtime state REA 

 leader; and H. W. Trautmann, manager 

 of Illinois Livestock Marketing Associa- 

 tion, an lAA affiliate. 



COME TO THE FAIR 

 AUGUST 12 TO 21 



The 1949 Illinois State Fair will be 

 held Aug. 12-21, according to Roy E. 

 Yung, state director of agriculture. It 

 will be Illinois' 93rd fair. 



Work already has been begun on this 

 year's exposition which calls for the en- 

 largement of many exhibitor facilities, 

 particularly those dealing with livestock. 



3 34 ELEVATORS 



There are 334 farmers' elevators 

 in Illinois serving 407 communities and 

 they paid about four million dollars in 

 patronage refunds the past year, accord- 

 ing to Lawrence Farlow, Bloomington, 

 secretary of the Farmers Grain D^ers 

 Association of Illinois. i 



24 



L A. A. RECORD 



