Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-01-31


hens and set to work to make their
fortune. In less than year they had
flooded the markets with eggs. The
price went down to a ten-cent level.
The dealers would buy up the eggs
and put them in storage. borrow money
on the eggs in storage and go back
and buy more eggs. The farmers
dumped them in a helpless way and
broke prices in that fashion, while the
! produce dealers DUMPED them con-
sciously onto the San Francisco Prod
uce exchange with the intention OF
breaking the price. The dumping in
| the spring dominated the price of the
entire year. California poultrymen
stood this state of affairs until half
OF them were broke. Then they got
! together to try their own hand at
marketing. In 1915 they Incorporated
the Poultry Producers of Central Cal
ifornia. One thousand producers
joined the association and they start
ed selling in January, 1917.
Every one of these 1000 hen owners
subscribed for $40 share of stock
and signed contract to deliver all
of his eggs to the association for four
years. What the association proposed
to do was to grade the eggs and pool
them by grades, then sell them out,
one cent a dozen being deducted to
cover the expenses. During the first
eleven months 1t handled $2,049,000
worth of eggs at a selling expense of
only 2.41 per cent The business stead
lily grew until in 1921 it handled
662, 604 cases for its 2,436 producer
members. In 1922 the producers mar
keted $6,833,OO worth of eggs, Of
which 80 per cent were shipped to the
East. Twenty per cent were carried
in storage. Only 48 per cent were
sold at once.
It took a long time to build the or
ganization for the business of selling.
The flocks had to be standardized.
The work had to be completely reor-
gained. Certain men who were
Matching specialists were put in
charge to hatch all the chicks, and the
rest Of the members ran their focks
without ROSTERS. The eggs were care
fully graded and fed out to the mar
ket in an orderly fashion, the surplus
being processed and packed away in
cold storage for the shortage season.
Under the old system the bulk of these
eggs were dumped in the spring on the
San Francisco market.
Big Pacific Coast Business.
Portland poultry producers had foi
years been receiving the lowest price
on the Pacific coast In 1919 they
adopted a cooperative marketing plan
similar to the one used in the Peta-
luna district. They formed the Pa
cific Cooperative Poultry Producers
organization. Today Portland prices
are equal to the highest. The associa.
ton markets the eggs of 100000 hens,
half of the production of Oregon,
Idaho and Washington.
Three other groups Of Pacific coast
poultrymen have started their own
marketing organization, all built on
the same plan. Now the five Pacific
coast groups have joined forces to
work under one great overhead sales
agency-the Pacific Coast Egg Produc-
ers. Each group sells It's own eggs
in it's own particular section, but all
the eggs to be clipped out are pooled
and handled from one Office.
Along the eastern coast more than
400 New Jersey poultrymen got to-
gether in August of 1921 and formed
the New Jersey Cooperative Poultry
Producers association, which has only
recently been extended to include pro-
ducers of all the Atlantic coast states.
This organization is another model Of
the Petaluma group.
Commercial poultrymen are making
their markets pay just return. But
they can never have complete control
over the egg market until the hum
dreds of farm f1ocks of the Middle
West are laying cooperative eggs.
The huge production of the Middle
Western states is in the hands Of the
packers; their control of the surplus
is strong enough that they can break
any market.
The only attempts that the Middle
West has made toward the co-opera-
tive marketing of eggs has been en-
tirely along local lines. In some of
the dairy districts of Iowa, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Indiana and Pennsylvania
the cooperative creameries are han
ding the marketing of eggs and poul-
try for their members. They usually
pay cash for the produce at the time
Of delivery, just the same as the
dealer. The only difference is that the
creamery does not attempt to make a
profit. In other districts there are
shipping associations and egg circles.
In all there are more than 750 OF these
local units Usually the village store
keeper handles the circles shipment
and he is paid so much per dozen for
his trouble. Through local units the
eggs bring slightly better prices, but
the producers are still helplessly in
the power of the dealers. And the
same dealers are in control of at least
90 per cent of our total egg production.
Women to Pool Eggs.
Now the women Of the West are
going to pool their eggs in the Cali
fornia way, and they have already
started to work. Local associations
are being organized to assemble and
grade the eggs. Next these locals will
be federated into state selling agen-
cies. The last step is the co-ordinat-