Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange

FARMERS' COOPERATIVE MARKETING AND PURCHASING ASSOCIATIONS IN VIRGINIA

There are marketing association and purchasing association cooperatives in nearly every county of southside Virginia and in many of the counties of the central and northern sections of the State.

The business of farmers' cooperatives in Virginia is not so large as in some States, but at present the rate of growth is faster than in the country as a whole. While the volume of cooperative marketing has varied considerably over the past 10 years, cooperative purchasing of farm supplies has grown steadily; and today Virginia occupies an outstanding position in, this phase of cooperative activity.

Marketing Cooperatives

Through their 80-odd marketing cooperatives Virginia farmers sell about $14,000,000 worth of farm products each year.

In northern Virginia -- milkshed of the populous Washington, D. C, area -- farmers cooperatively market millions of gallons of milk and cream each year, and some other dairy products. Cooperatives in the Valley of Virginia and the southwest supply eastern and seaboard markets with thousands of head of cattle and lambs, as well as wool, apples, peaches, and other fruit. Nearly 10,000 farmers on the Eastern Shore, in the Northern Neck, and other Tidewater counties have their own associations which sell Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, cabbage, and strawberries. Many producers in the central and southside sections of the State cooperatively market truck crops, as well as tobacco, poultry, and other farm products.

Altogether, there are 27 fruit and vegetable associations, most of which are located in the eastern and southwestern parts of the State. There are 23 livestock shipping associations in the Valley of Virginia and the southwest. Nine wool-marketing cooperatives are also found in the same areas. Poultry marketing is the main business of five associations.

The Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange

Oldest farmers' cooperative in the State is the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange. Or-ganized by a small group of farmers in 1900, this association serving fertile Accomac and Northampton Counties, is today one of the outstanding cooperatives in the State. From its brick office building at Onley, Va., the exchange cooperatively sells over 35 percent of the shore's 10,000-carload crop of early potatoes, one-third of its tomatoes, half of its cabbage, and about three-fourths of its onions and strawberries.

In the spring, the first crop which farmers bring to the exchange is broccoli, followed in May by strawberries. The exchange sold nearly 5,000,000 quarts of strawberries in 1938 -- a large part of them through four strawberry auction markets owned and operated by the exchange. The Virginia shore potato crop is harvested and marketed in June and July. Most of the exchange's potatoes are moved by rail to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and scores of other cities throughout the eastern part of the United States. Some exchange potatoes go to Southern, Middle Western, and even Canadian markets. Hundreds and hundreds of freight cars, assembled at railway sidings to move the potato crop, reach down the peninsula almost as far as the eye can see. The exchange's final major crop is tomatoes. The "pinks" are shipped mostly by truck to nearby canning factories and local markets. The green tomatoes go to more distant outlets.

The exchange serves 2,700 farmers. Each member of the cooperative owns at least one $5 share of stock. Buildings, facilities, and other assets of the association are valued at $113,000. Annual business amounts to about $2,000,000, of which more than three-fourths is potatoes, and over $200,000 comes from the sale of strawberries.