The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-06-04
C0-0PERATVlE:.S||'
FIELD HELD
Limited
California Fruit Growers Doubt
Success Of Some East 4
ern Groups
BY o. NJ. KILE.
Copyright. 1924

o<1y@1N<AME ~, SddlI., JUNE So.
This land of the birth and growth
OF the cooperative marketing move.
n1ent In America is frankly con:
cerned for the future Of co-opera-
tive marketing. Not that the old
originals, like the California Fruit
Growers Exchange, have anything
to worry about as to their. own
future. They are sound and strong
and growing stronger each wear.
But there is the feeling that many
of the newer associations Of grow.
ers, both in California and in the
east, are rushing in on a basis
that will bring disaster and in the
end, tend to discredit the entire
cooperative movement.
Seventy five per cent Of all citrus
fruits grown in California are now
marketed through the cooperative
group above mentioned. Practi.
c2lly all the lemons are so handled,
This represents IL 900 growers and
total shipments last year Of $4,000
carloads of citrus fruits. Yet
despite this phenomenal success by
the original and largest California
cooperative. several Of the other
large groups find themselves in
DIFFICULTY. The raisip. growers have
undergone one reorganization and
report has It that further readjnst.
ments may be necessary.
Close To Growers.
The prune and. apricot growers
lind themselves up against diff.
culties, and the lack of success
among several midwestern groups,
particularly the grain growers, ia
we'll known. w. F. Fahlgren.
secretary of the California Fruit
Growers Exchange, says that the
officers of his organization are
coming to realize more and more
strongly that their success as a
cooperative group has been largely
due to their ability to keep in
intimate touch with each grower
during a large share Of each year.
This is done through the local pack.
ing houses where neighhors come
together at frequent intervals dur:
ing many months Of the year, the
management Of which is largely in
local hands.
Many of the other co-operatives
have lost this intimate local touch
by being organized on highly
centralized plan. Local contacts and
local management are essential Mr..
Fahlgren believes. Over-production
is the. immediate trouble the raisin
growers and prune growers are
facing. This is in part the result
of the policy of fixing a price.
While the citrus growers associa-
ton acts, merely as a central selling
agent for the local growers groups
and permits eastern auction sales
to largely set prices in accordance
with demand, the raisin growers
association actually sets a price.
New Sales Effort Planned.
During the war the high prices
set so stimulated production that
the acreage soon quadrupled. Des-
pite valiant sales efforts and an
advertising fund of 81 300, 900 for
the current year, the flood of new
raisins threatens to swamp the
market. An attempt will be made
this season to put fresh California
grapes on the eastern markets in
large quantities. 1t is hoped that
this may provide an outlet for
stock which otherwise would have
to be made into raisins.
Conservative California co-opera-
tors see little chance for success in
the cooperative marketing of staple
mid-western and eastern farm crops
like corn, wheat and hay There
must be a real need for a better
marketing system before co-opera-
ton is likely to succeed, they say.
And the staple farm crops are al.
ready economically handled. Furth-
ermore their marketing occupies
but day or two in the whole year,
and this gives little opportunity for
developing the intimate local in.
terest so necessary to cooperative
success.
Dairy products, fruits, vegetables
and certain other farm crops fit
into the cooperative marketing
scheme to better advantage, they
point out, and greatest success in
the east is therefore to be expected
along these lines. California is
still great cooperative marketing
experiment In which valuable les.
sons can be learned hy the rest of
the country.