UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



^^mm- BULLETIN No. 1095 | 



J^^'^ru 



Washington, D. C. Y October 12, 1922 



PRODUCERS' COOPERATIVE MILK-DISTRIBUT- 

 ING PLANTS. 



By O. B. Jesness/ Specialist in Cooperative Organization, W. H. Bakber/ As- 

 sistant in Marketing Dairy Products, and A. V. Swaethout, Investigator in 

 Market Business Practice, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, and C. B. 

 Clement, Market Milk Specialist, Dairy Division, Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Milk producers supplying a number of cities have undertaken to 

 solve some of their milk-marketing problems by the establishment of 

 cooperative milk-distributing plants. The objects sought and the 

 conditions which prompted the producers in their actions have been 

 varied. In some instances a number of producers, each delivering 

 direct to consumers, have sought to eliminate the duplication result- 

 ing from their individual route-delivery services and to reduce the 

 cost of distribution by establishing a cooperative plant with a cen- 

 tralized delivery system. Difficulty in procuring necessary farm 

 labor has been a factor in some instances in encouraging the estab- 

 lishment ©f a central plant, since it enabled the producers to devote 

 more time to production. 



Ordinances requiring tuberculin testing of all cows or the pasteuri- 

 zation of all milk under strict sanitary regulations of the health de- 

 partment have in some cases made it desirable for producers to estab- 

 lish a cooperative milk-pasteurization plant in order to comply with 

 the city ordinances. In some instances producers have purchased 

 privately owned plants with a view to effecting greater efficiency and 

 economy in handling and distributing their milk supplies. Low 

 prices and alleged unfair treatment from private concerns sometimes 

 have aroused action which has resulted in the establishment of coop- 

 erative plants. 



Cooperative milk-distributing plants at present are located mostly 

 in small cities where a satisfactory system of distribution had not 

 previously been developed. Milk producers supplying the larger 

 cities usually have organized cooperative associations for the purpose 

 of acting as agents for their members in making contracts for the 



1 Resigned. 



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