Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1920-01-23
POTATO MEN HERE
STATE MEETING IN LITTLE FALLS
JAN. 26 AND 27 TO FORM
MARKETING ASSN.

Z
JAN. 26 AND 27 TO FORM
MARKETING ASSN.
A state meeting of potato growers will
be held in Little Falls next Monday and
Tuesday for the purpose of organizing
the Minnesota Cooperative Potato
Growers Exchange. Letters have been
sent out to all farm bureaus and local
potato growers organizations in the
state asking them to send delegates to
this meeting and it is expected that the
attendance will be large if the weather
is favorable.
Hugh J. Hughes of the department of
agriculture is expected here tomorrow
to complete arrangements for the meet
ing. He is the acting secretary for the
temporary organization. The meeting
will likely be held at the Elks hall. 1t
will begin at 10 a. m. Monday.
Permanent officers will be elected at
this meeting and the location of the as
sociation headquarters may also be de-
cided upon.
Mr.. Bassett of the North American
Food Exchange and o. P. Jesness Of the
w. Dur tdu VI lhCJ11lS, DCp
of Agriculture, will be here throughout
the meeting. =.
"A meeting Of the directors will be
held on Sunday to take up several mat
ters in connection with the coming
meeting. E. P. Nauertz Of Green
Prairie is one of the directors.
The Michigan plan of potato market
ing, which is the basis Of the proposed
Minnesota organization, is outlined by
County Agent Campbell as follows:
The Michigan Potato Growers ex-
change is an organization Of farmers
whose original purpose was to i'm
prove selling methods. In operation
less than two years, they have now
included standardizing the product
and given considerable attention to
the improvement of the potato crop.
The original plan was a federation
Of seven local shipping associations
in Antrum county, Michigan, under
the leadership of County Agent w. G.
Cribbs. H. S. Tenant, field agent
of the Bureau of Markets, Washing
ton, D. c., assisted in expanding the
Antrum county plan into a statewide
association so that in August, 1918,
20 local associations had identified
themselves with the state exchange.
Plan Of the Organization
The selling is placed in the hands
Of a board of directors of the central
exchange. individuals join locals by
paying a membership fee of $40 and
giving a collateral note of $100 non
interest bearing note which is held
1~xy %J,~ <1
compliance with the contract. The
local joins the central exchange by
paying the membership fee of $100
and giving $500 collateral note.
The individual grower contracts to
deliver his entire crop of potatoes to
the local association. Ten cents per
hundred is assessed for all potatoes
sold otherwise. The grower reports
his acreage and crop condition on
July 1.
The management OF the association
is vested in a board of directors who
are elected by delegates from the To-
cal associations.
Selling Methods
The exchange has not thus far sold
direct, but contracts with the North
American Fruit Growers exchange to
handle the selling at $16.50 per car.
All costs of selling, kilograms, etc.,
are paid by the Fruit exchange. Five
cents per hundred covers all the ex-
penses of :he Fruit Growers exchange
and the Michigan Central exchange.
In addition to this cents per hun
dred is charged for insurance and a
sinking fund, and cent per hundred
for educational and publicity purpos-
es. The total cost of the Central
association is cents per hundred.
Returns are made to the locals in
| three weeks or less. The local asso-
citation advances money on shipments
if the grower wishes. The local as
sociation takes out the charges for
handling, grading, loading and other
local charges and RENTS the balance
to the grower. This charge averaged
II cents per hundred last year. Thus
the total charges were cents plus
II cents or a total of 20 cents per
hundred
Saving to the Grower
The average price of all potatoes
sold through the exchange compared
to the average price throughout the
country as reported by the Bureau
of Markets, shows that the exchange
members received an average of 21
cents per hundred above the regular
price.
Amount Of Business Done
Two thousand one hundred and
eighteen cars of potatoes were sold
the first year up to July 1, 1919 in
1856 different cities in 26 states.
Pennsylvania was the largest buyer
with 900 cars.
Progress
The Michigan exchange started
with 20 locals and 1000 members, and
business amounted to $1,809,000. On
November Z, 1919, the number of
locals had increased to 81.
The Minnesota Exchange
The Minnesota exchange was start
ed in August 1919 and is being mod