The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-11-14
PROGRESS OF AGRICUETURAL
COOPERATION IN IRELAND

Of the various parts Of the United
| Kingdom, Ireland IS that in which
! agricultural cooperation is most
1 highly developed This is due to the
propagandfst work of the Irish Agri-
I cultural Organization Society, which
| was founded by Sir Horace Plunkett
4 and Is supported chiefly by voluntary
| contributions from persons interested
| in the welfare. of agriculture in Ire
land. The Society also obtains funds
| to some extent fro n1the utilization fees
| of the societies which it has formed,
and it has received grants from var
| ious Government Departments-the
Departures of Agriculture and Tech
| nical Instruction for Ireland, the Con-
gested Districts Board for Ireland,
and, more recently, from the Develop
| ment Commissioners.
| In an article which appears in the
| August number of the Monthly Bu1le
tin of Economic and Social Intel1i-
gence, published by the international
Institute of Agriculture, a statement
is given of the sources of income OF
the Irish Agricultural Organization
Society in the years 1900 to 1911. It
appears that the contributions from
afiliated societies varied from f454 in
1906 to f1,366 in 1911, and the sub
scriptions and donations from private
individuals from e235 in 1906 to fS,-
1872 in 1904; the grants from the De-
partment of Agriculture varied from.
1864 in 1900 to f4,316 in 1907 and
were withdrawn altogether in 1909;
while the grants from the Congested
Districts Board have been about 1850
year. A grant of $4,000 as given by.
the Development Commission rs in
respect of the work OF the Society up
to July LIST, 1912, with a. promise of
further assistance in future years.
The same article contains statistics
for 1911 of the agricultural opera
At Il
that there were 934 societies in 1911,
with a total membership of 97.31S
and a turnover of f2, 6665483.- By far
the largest business was done blythe
cooperative creamerfes which num-
bered Alb and sold dairy produce to
the value OF FL, 926, 1858, besides other
goods to the value of 1929, 704.s The
agricultural trading societies nlmber-
ed III, and had turnover of $780,
203. There were 2S6 agricultural
credit societies, hich made loans to
the amount of f56,o55. These are two
important trading declarations, the
Irish Cooperative Agency Society, the
sales of which amounted to E153, 695,
and the irish Agricultural Wholesale
Society of which the total sales were
1892
OF the remaining societies, the most
important was the Roscrea Corpora
tive Bacon Factory, which sold bacon
to the value Of f47,355 in 1911. In
1912, we are told, its sales reached
f55,059. The success of this society
has led to the formation OF similar
societies at Wexford and Omagh, and
there seems likely to be a rapid deveI- |
oprnent of cooperative bacon-curing |
in Ireland.
A large scheme is under considera- |
ton for the cooperative export Of
dead meat, an outbreak of foot and
mouth disease in Ireland and the con-
sequent prohibition of the export OF
live cattle to England having drawn |
attention to the desirability of estab- |
fishing slaughter houses in Ireland
and exporting dead meat instead of |
live animals to England. Pending the !
development ef the larger scheme. a !
dead meat trade has been successfully |
carried out by the Wexford Bacon |
Factory, which took up this business
while waiting for the completion of |
it's bacon factory. In 1912 it dealt |
with 1885 head of stock for which |
f31,572 was paid and f34,255 was re- |
ceived- 1t is, however, too early to |
say. whether there will be. rapid pro- |
gress in the cooperative export of |
meat.