33 
6 percent used the outright purchase plan, and the remaining 2 percent 
were direct sales from growers to buyers, 
Cooperatives employing the pooling method used either a multiple pooling 
system or a single pool. In multiple pooling, each type or quality of 
product handled by the cooperative is pooled separately. Grower re- 
turns are based on the average prices received for similar products. 
The single pool method treats all produce as a single lot. Patron 
returns are prorated on the basis of overall returns to the total com- 
mercial value of ail products marketed in a stated period, such as 
a fiscal year. For example, if sales proceeds were 106 percent of 
local commercial market value of all products handled, each grower- 
member would receive 106 percent of the commercial market value of 
his deliveries, less processing charges. 
In the Pacific region, 89 percent of the responding cooperatives 
used the pooling method. 
Cooperatives using the individual account method of payment essentially 
act as agents for grower-members. The procedure is to negotiate the 
sale, collect the receipts, deduct costs, and return the balance to the 
grower-member with an itemized account of the transaction. 
Only 14 percent of processing cooperatives used this method. 
When a cooperative purchases members' products outright, it allocates 
to members on a patronage basis any net margins realized at the 
close of the year. Ina direct sale from grower to buyer, the general 
terms of the sale are either arranged or subject to final approval 
by the cooperative. 
Very few associations used the latter two payment methods. 
Brokers play a major role in marketing cooperatively processed fruits 
and vegetables. This sales dominance of brokers prevailed in all geo- 
graphic regions except the South Atlantic and Mountain regions, where 
the direct sales method was more significant. 
Approximately 59 percent of reporting associations’ sales of processed 
fruits and vegetables was handled by food brokers, 40 percent was sold 
directly to buyers, with the remaining one percent sold on consignment 
(appendix table 22). 
Chainstores were important buyers of products processed by cooperatives, 
accounting for 45 percent of total reported sales for the 1964-65 season 
(appendix table 23). 2/ Of this amount, 60 percent was sold through 
brokers and 40 percent directly by the cooperatives. 
2/ A chainstore is a corporate, voluntary, or cooperative organization 
of 11 or more stores. 
