PALMER, ALASKA.
DOROTHY M. BELL, EDITOR
Published every Thursday at Palmer.Alaska, for the Matanuska Valley ^arm6rs’
Cooperating Association for the purpose of giving news of the Associations work,
Problems, and Accomplishments.
SUBSCRIPTION BY MAIL $1.75 BOX $1.00 SINGLE COPY 10<*
Ni
NO TIMS FOR NAPPING.
The little lad probably can af
ford a nap, busy season or not,—the the
rest of us must constantly be on our toes.
First, the farmer must be awake. In the
past, farmers raised what they liked and
each judged the markets according to his
own interpretation. One writer, and a
farmer, pointed out recently that the gen
eril planning of farm crops goes something
like this—Last summer Mr. Smith made .
money on potatoes,so the next summer evors
farmer and his brother planted potatoes-J
result, too many potatoes. That year Mr.
Jones didn't plant potatoes. He olantcd
celery and lettuce and made money;there
fore , the following year there was too
much lettuce and celeryr-Etc. As a
resu.lt, the majority of the faasners made
a rather meagre living. The farmer who
was different was the only one to make
money. In order to get away from this
hit and miss typo of agriculture—crop
planning is to some extent replacing tho
old method. It is far’from being the gen
eral practice, however. Perhaps methods
usod in putting over this type’of a pro
gram have been too dictatorial. No do have
hopes of an improved system, and it is
coming from tho farmers themselves. Likd
the Rack of the Yards people in Chicago,
who said that they could reform themselves
without tho help of outside reformers—
end they did.
’"c have developed in faming communities -
Marketing Organizations which buy and soli
tho fnrmcrs’produce for him. These organ
izations arc not just for the purpose of
getting the farmer's produce sold, hut
also to get for him as good a price as is
possible regardless of competition or a
surplus. Many fnrmors can remember when
eggs end vegetables end potatoes* ‘'too cheap
to harvest.
To the housowifo who must buy all of her
Cent, next column.
food, those low prices arc very fine—but
{to the fanner who must live on what he
'gets from these products, it means a low
standard of living, ^hile the housewife
may save a few pennies here and there on
her purchases, her husband who sells to
the farmers may lose many more because the
farmer has no money. Therefore; the Mar
keting Associations in the form of Cooper
atives havo served the purpose of raising
prices to the farmers so that they in turn
can buy more materials on the market and
the man in business gets more trade. Thus,
a higher standard of living for all is
maintained.
But—just'having a marketing Association
isn't all. Once a marketing Association
is established, it must build a none.'Thcn
that Association's products'go on the mar
ket they must have quality. The farmer
must bo awake and produce the very best and
nothing but the best for his Cooperative
marketing. The Association management and
employees cannot sleep either. They have
a hard job on their hands—for they arc
the ones to say "No" when poor quality
produce is brought to market. They must
protect not only the quality name built up
by the Association, but the future welfare
of all fanners in the Association.
That should the farmer do with his seconds.'
First, have as little seconds ns possible.
Then use as much of this at home as you
can. At present the market cannot .
tako No. 2 products. Something to work far
in the future might be a dehydration plant
where No. 2 products could be handled.
Many products classed as No. 2 grade are
just'as'good to eat if used immediately as
a No. 1. Their one drawback is poor keep
ing quality or poor appearance. Split
heads of Cabbage can be used in Kraut, but
finding use for split lettuce heads is
another thing. Here again, the produce
department needs wide awake graders so '
that only the best rqachos the consumer.
Nhat shall toe do about the fellow who cuts
prices? Ho is as bad a menace as the one
who tries to put seconds on the market.
Cutting prices eventually ruins things for
everyone.• Labor is well protected against
this sort of thing and farmers arc going to
have to find some plan to protect them
selves. '
Finally it won't do much good if overyono
else'except the soles department is on his
toes. Horo too, we need a. live wire who
knows his business and r.ho con make the
public want his waros. Cont. on pp. 5