THE STORY OF FARTERS’ COOPERATIVES '
by R. H. Elsuorth
In '-~ori.ee. cooperation is preeminently a femer activity. The record shows that our
farmers hove dctorr.iinod the '.possibilities and the limitations of cooperative soiling
and buying and tfcat they have evolved techniques for both marketing and purchasing
that yield direct'benefits to\those who participate. The evolving has been a long
dram-but nroccss, ’.;ith its share of failures. Nevertheless, onough enterprises hcvol
surviv'd two''pr’nore generations to servo as guideposts for the farmers of the oncom*
•in.: generations.
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"ill hur.d’n society is a vast system of cooperation," Calvin Codlidgo in addressing
Several score of farmer cooperators at the V.Tiito House in 1925. "It (cooperation) be
gan with the disco-very that two people could together roll a heavier stone or neve a
bigger log thane ebuid be done by* one clone... This broad definition of cooperation
includes the -hundreds of associations which did the pioneering necessary for'the mido
sproad, conplor., resourceful, and constructive cooperative movement of today.
Most of the early adventures mere farmer-erned and democratically controlled. Eadh
member as a rule*, had a single vote. They more mutual benefit enterprises oporating
•• ithout the advantage of special legislation. They increased' in riuribor, usefulness,
strength, and economic significance as exp erienco accumulated.
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The movement had its beginnings in detached groups scattered through the Northeastern
States, the Cotton Hblt, the Upucr Mississippi Valley, and the Fir TTort. As tho frag
ments of information pertaining to the many different efforts arc pieced together,the
influence of this continuous effort on the agriculture of the past 100 years is re
vealed.
Th* Handbook of Connecticut Agriculture, issudd in 1901, states that "associated or
cooperative dairying" mas attempted at Goshen, Conn., about 1310, 'From another source
it is learned that choose'dairy mas established at South Trenton, N.Y., at about the
same tine. One author says, "Simultaneously, and without tho least connection what
ever mith European experience, associated dairying in very primitive fern cropped out
in different portions of the United States betmeon 1841 and 1851."
Ono of the outstanding early enterprises ’.vas the Jesse Nillicns cheoso factory in
On.ida County, N.Y., rhich './as established in 1851. Descriptions of the factory equip
ment and the methods of making choose rare published in the papers at tho tine.
Although sane of the cheese factories nay have rr.de. butter, the first factory erected'
especially for butter miring ras built at Campbell Hall, Orange C ;unty, N.Y., in 1856.
Soon there mere many cooperative choose factories and crconcrios. The Cayadutta
cheese factory, established at Fonda, N.Y., in 1863, ras reporting to the Cooperative
Division of the Department 0f Agriculture as late as 1926.
Grain and livestock farmers rerc but little behind the dairymen in organizing coorer
ctivcly. Nhen Wisconsin’farmers discovered in 185? that the railroad from Milraukoo
t'' tho Mississippi River, rhich'they had helped to financo, ras not rith then in their
struggle rith tho grain buyers, the Dane County Farmers* Protective Union rns'fomod
and a. grain elevator erected at Madison. There ras a big rheat crop thr.t year, and
the fair'.ers filled the elevator to tho roof. But tho rrong nan had been Selected as
manager. He sold the grain .and departed' rith the proceeds. . Subsequently, the eleva
tor ras destroyed by fire, and tho association collapsed.
011 records indicate that the farmers in Bureau County, 111., developed a cooperative
hog auction about 1860,
A farmers’ purchasing association organized at Rivorhead, Long Island, N.Y., on Christ
mas night, 1863 is still mooting in the building in rhich it ras formed. Tho purpose
of tho association ras to buy fertilizer at rholosalc in Nor York and ship it to
Rivorhead. A sea captain ras selected as buying agent. As ho had to have gold in
order to purchase the fertilizer, tho association early loomed to avoid the pitfalls
'f extending credit.
during tho 1860*s choose factories and creamery co-ops rcro farmed at various'places
in Her York, and in sene of the States to the'rest' 6f the Allegheny Mountains. A cor.
e .tier, ,f dairymen ras held in 1864 at Utica, N.Y., rith representatives present from
fautom.’-cs. The organization formed at the convention 2 years later became tho
. v\c.an Dairymen’s Association. By 1867 more than 400 co-ops rcro processing dairy
redacts, (Extension Division of the Ib.rm Credit Administration )