JUL 29 1938 Major changes in the marketing, processing, and distribution of livestock and meats_ Possibilities for future development of locker plants_ Sample agreement with patrons_ Selected references__. 23 25 Refrigerated A New Cooperative Service By L. B. Mann' 1 Senior Agricultural Economist APID expansion of local locker plants which provide refrigerated RAPID storage for perishable farm products such as meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables, is one of the most outstanding recent developments in the field of food distribution and storage. Seldom has any new development created so much interest in its use, influence, and future possibilities as has the refrigerated locker-commonly called the cold-storage locker. It may be further described as a safetydeposit box kept in a room with a temperature near zero, where families may store frozen food supplies that have been grown at home or purchased at wholesale. This report presents current information with regard to this new enterprise for the purpose of acquainting the cooperative associations interested with the possibilities and limitations of such plants. This study has been limited largely to those plants located in the Middle West, where meat is the principal food stored. In other areas, particularly in the far West, fruits and vegetables are reported to be of major importance. Much of the information included has been obtained from operators of local locker plants, both cooperative and privately owned; from county agents, representatives of the banks for cooperatives, and manufacturers of locker-plant equipment. RISE OF THE LOCKER-PLANT MOVEMENT AVA VAILABLE information indicates that this kind of service was started on the Pacific coast about 1903. One of the first plants to undertake it was the Chico Ice & Cold Storage Co., Chico, Calif. This ice plant first rented an upstairs cold-storage space to local 1 The writer desires to acknowledge the helpful assistance and advice received from S. T. Warrington, University of Minnesota; Marvin A. Schaars, University of Wisconsin; and K. F. Warner, A. T. Edinger, and F. G. Blanck, of the United States Department of Agriculture. merchants for storing eggs, apples, and other produce. In 1908 it extended this service to farmers for the storing of meat in boxes. Each farmer furnished his own box and the boxes were stacked in a storeroom. Because of the inconvenience of this arrangement and occasional loss from pilferage, covered boxes which could be locked were installed about 1913. With increased demand for such accommodation a special room was built in 1917, and wooden lockers in a variety of sizes were provided. These were piled in tiers and were built as drawers which slid into frames. The smaller boxes were in tiers five high and the larger ones three high.2 In 1917 an ice-plant manager in Centralia, Wash., at the request of some of his friends, furnished space in his cold-storage room for the freezing and storing of wild game. The success of this method of handling frozen game spread, and he was induced to provide locker space, not only for hunters, but for farmers who wished to store their home-killed meat. About 10 years later at Walla Walla, Wash., the local dairymen's association permitted farmers to freeze rabbits and other game in the butter-storage room of the creamery plant. This proved so popular that the association provided individual lockers for its patrons, who now number some 1,400 in a town of 16,000 population. During the next 10 years a limited number of these freezer lockers were installed by creameries, ice plants, and milk plants throughout the West, but not until 1935 were such enterprises introduced extensively in the Middle West. During the last 2 years, however, expansion has been extremely rapid throughout this territory. Recent reports from several States indicate that there are now over 200 plants in Iowa, 200 in Washington, 62 in Minnesota, 41 in Wisconsin, and 40 in Illinois, and that numerous plants are operating in practically all the Middle Western and Western States. Trade papers estimate that there are now about 2,500 such plants in operation in the United States and that others are being established at the rate of about 50 per month. Capacity of present plants is estimated at 850,000 lockers, with an annual storage volume of approximately 500 pounds each.3 Until 1937 most of the locker plants in use were west of the Mississippi River, but within the last 12 months this development has spread into Indiana, Ohio, and other Eastern States as well as throughout the South. 2 From information furnished the writer by A. G. Eames, former manager of Chico Ice & Cold Storage, Co., Chico, Calif. 3 REFRIGERATED LOCKERS KEY TO NEW PLAN. Advertising Age, April 18, 1938. OWNERSHIP OF PLANTS OWNERS of plants include private individuals, partnerships, cooperative associations, retail meat dealers, ice plants, ice cream factories, creameries, milk plants, cheese factories, and corporations. In some States, particularly Wisconsin and Minnesota, numerous locker plants have been financed and constructed as side lines by cooperative creameries, cheese factories, or milk plants. Recently a number of plants have been established by farmers in Illinois and Minnesota as independent units. In Iowa, most of the locker plants are privately owned and operated as individual business units-not as side lines. ALTHOUG ORGANIZING AND FINANCING LTHOUGH many of the locker plants now in operation are privately owned, a number have been set up as cooperatives. Most of the earlier cooperative locker plants were established as side-line enterprises by creameries, cheese factories, and milk plants. Several of the more recent cooperative plants have been organized by local farm organizations or by groups of farmers and local businessmen, through the sale of stock. When planning to establish a cooperative locker plant, the following points should be carefully considered: 1. Selection of a location-preferably in a community of selfsustaining, diversified, family-size farms connected by good roads to a popular trading center. A good-size county seat located in such a territory offers one of the most desirable locations. If in addition to its agricultural trade this town also supports local manufacturing establishments, an even better opportunity for patronage is presented. While farm trade so far has been the mainstay of the locker plants' business, in many places from 25 to 30 percent of the patronage has come from town people. 2. Potential patronage should be ascertained by means of a thorough survey before establishing the plant. The information assembled should also give some idea of the size of plant needed to serve the community. 3. Every effort should be made to have as many patrons as possible sign yearly locker-rental contracts prior to the actual construction of the plant, so as to insure at least a fair portion of its first year's income before starting operation. In numerous instances in which plants were established when no preliminary work had been done, the operators have been disappointed at the slowness with which patrons have rented lockers. Some plants, after an entire year's operations, have had less than 60 percent of their locker capacity rented. |