Cooperative Manufacture.--The cooperative 
manufacture or fabrication of containers in 
California would be facilitated through large 
federations of cooperatives having sufficient 
volume of operations to justify the required 
investment in plants. Perhaps the greatest 
opportunity for further cooperative manu- 
facture of metal cans or the fabrication of 
corrugated cardboard cartons exists under the 
leadership of an organization such as Con- 
solidated Agriculture Industries. 
Cooperative manufacture of containers in 
California, however, would face active com- 
petition from large, well-established container 
manufacturers. The total volume of fruits and 
vegetables processed in California is large 
enough that these companies have located con- 
tainer manufacturing plants in principal pro- 
ducing areas throughout the State, and have 
provided effective sales forces and warehouse 
systems to serve their customers. Coopera- 
tives reported that major manufacturers also 
support active programs of research and de- 
velopment, offer complete service at com- 
petitive prices, and maintain locally available 
inventories for the convenience of proces- 
sors. 
FLORIDA 
Processors of canned citrus fruit and vege- 
tables are concentrated almost entirely in 
Florida. This State produces virtually all of 
the Nation's canned citrus fruit and 95 per- 
cent of the canned citrus juice. Personal 
interviews were conducted with Winter Garden 
Citrus Products Cooperative, Winter Garden; 
Plymouth Citrus Products Cooperative, Ply- 
mouth; Florida Citrus Canners Cooperative, 
Lake Wales; Golden Gem Growers, Inc., 
Umatilla; B & W Canning Company, Inc., 
Groveland; Cypress Gardens Citrus Products 
Cooperative, Winter Haven; and with one other 
processing company. Also interviewed was 
Citrus Central, Inc., Winter Park, Fla., an 
organization consisting of five cooperative 
processors, 
Cooperative procurement of containers and 
packaging supplies in Florida is providing 
32 
some growers with substantial savings. Fur- 
ther opportunities appear available, 
Cooperative Purchase.--Opportunities for 
cooperative purchase of containers for 
processed citrus products, including frozen 
orange juice concentrate, canned single- 
strength orange juice and sections, and chilled 
orange juice appear to be limited to none 
standard items that are used in low volume 
by several processors. Such items would in- 
clude various sizes of cans and related cor- 
rugated cases, packaging supplies, and possibly 
labels. The advantages for cooperative pur- 
chase of labels, however, may be offset by 
the amount of coordination required to con- 
solidate the many sizes, 
Established purchasing arrangements and 
the volume of the individual accounts would 
seem to preclude any substantial savings 
through cooperative buying of high-volume 
items such as standard-size cans and cor- 
rugated cases, 
Cooperative Manufacture.--Substantial op- 
portunities for cooperative manufacture of 
containers, especially metal cans, appear to 
exist in the citrus processing area. While 
one cooperative at Winter Garden has realized 
savings for growers through its small can- 
manufacturing plant, the most feasible oppor- 
tunity would appear to be through a federation 
of cooperatives such as Citrus Central, Inc., 
Winter Park, Fla, 
Citrus Central, Inc., was chartered under 
the Florida Agriculture Act in 1965, It is 
owned by five cooperative processors in that 
area, three of which produce a full line of 
citrus products, including frozen orange juice 
concentrate, canned single-strength juices and 
sections, and chilled juice. One organization 
produces only frozen orange juice concen- 
trates, Total sales of the five organizations 
for 1966 were approximately $90 million. 
The purpose of Citrus Central is to explore 
areas of mutual interest among the member 
groups in areas such as centralized market- 
ing, advertising, product research and product 
