The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1921-10-06
MINNESOTA FARM &
BUREAU LEADS
~ ~ ~ A~AA~
Federation Renders Valuable Service
in Organizing Cooperative
Marketing Agencies.
UNITS IN 1900 TOWNSHIPS
Farm Bureau Makes Centralized Dis
tribution Possible in Record
Time, Committee Told.

St. Paul, Oct. 6.-The Minnesota
Farm bureau federation, with units
organized in more than 1900 town.
ships, has enabled farmers Of the state
to accomplish in single summer two
Undertakings that normally would
have required years of work, E. B.
Heaton, member of the national dairy
marketing committee of eleven, told
members of the committee in it's first
formal hearing, held in St. Paul this
week. The committee Of eleven, ap-
pointed by the American Farm Bu-
reau federation to investigate dairy
marketing and recommend methods of
centralizing and improving the dis
tributon Of dairy products, opened it's
hearings in Minnesota in order to
study this states work in co-opera-
tive marketing.
Estate farm bureau declarations"
Mr.. Heaton said, "are rendering SER
vice the value Of which can hardly be
appreciated, and which is often not
appreciated as it should be by far
mers. Minnesota has one Of the newer
farm bureau declarations. The far
mers of this state have developed
more cooperative work than any other
state in the country in working out
their marketing problems. The live
stock shipping associations in the state
began to see that it would be good
thing if they could federate into a
state association and start a livestock
commission firm of their own on the
South St. Paul market. They found
that it would be impossible to build up
this association as quickly as they
wanted to do it, if they undertook it
themselves, so they called on the big
gest service organization in the state,
the Minnesota Farm Bureau fedora
ton, and in a few weeks the fedora
ton and the new association had de-
veloped statewide organization with
some 275 local shipping associations,
and a total of nearly 100000 farmers.
The managers of this commission firm
tell me they are handling more than
twice as much stock as their nearest
competitor. This is service worth
= while.
| "ln Minnesota there are over 600
cooperative creameries. Some Of the
leaders among these creameries con-
ceived the idea that they could make
great savings for the farmers and
could develop better product to sell,
if they could have big statewide as
sociation of these cooperative cream
cries. Again the farmers turned to
their farm bureau federation and
asked them to develop this creamery
organization. They are working on it
with splendid success. If it had not
been for the finances and the organi-
cation of the Minnesota Farm Bureau
federation, permitting it to go ahead
and help do this work, it probably
would have taken a good many years
for the livestock shippers or the cream
cry co-operators to develop the work
of which they have seen the need.
This is not the only work the Min
nesota federation has DONE 1t has
taken an active part in legislative mat
tiers in which the farmers are inter-
ested; it has an organization depart
ment used to help cooperative mar
keting projects and the county farm
bureaus, and it has a publicity de-
partment which is spreading the story
of the farmers work, not only to the
farmers, but to the people of the cities
as WE'LL"