148 Pecan-Growing 



ization, complete control of all activities is in the hands of 

 the membership. 



A cooperative marketing association is an organization of 

 the growers or producers for the purpose of collective selling, 

 in an orderly manner and on a supply and demand basis, 

 individually produced farm commodities. Any producer who 

 pays the membership fee can have one vote, no more, in the 

 governing of the organization ; the profits above operating 

 expenses are distributed among the members in proportion to 

 patronage or the amount of business transacted. A better, 

 shorter and more economical method of distribution is ob- 

 tained by cooperation than any single grower could possibly 

 hope to procure alone. This type of marketing association 

 is a step forward in rendering service and effecting savings 

 for the producers. It has reached its highest development 

 in California, where the California Fruit Growers' Exchange 

 was organized in 1893. More recently organizations have 

 been formed in that state for the handling of walnuts, raisins, 

 almonds, prunes, poultry and other commodities. The East- 

 em Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange has operated suc- 

 cessfully for more than twenty years. The Florida Citrus 

 Exchange has made remarkable progress in recent years. 



Organization tij commodity. 



One of the fundemental principles of cooperative marketing 

 is that organization be on a commodity rather than on a 

 community basis. Heretofore, a small number of grow- 

 ers living in the same community would organize to sell 

 their produce collectively in order to ship in carload lots 

 and reduce the expenses of marketing. Sooner or later 

 the buyers pitted the local associations against one another 



