Our History (Continued)
 

Illinois Grain Dealers Association 1893-1965

The very early history of the Illinois Grain Dealers Association is difficult to piece together.  Part of the difficulty in putting the history together rests in the fact that at least four different associations were in existence and functioning in Illinois prior to1893.

Those associations were: 

·        The Central Illinois Grain Dealers Association, which was organized in 1880 to contest the patent right that a Mr. Harper of El Paso claimed to have on grain dumps.

·        The Chicago Grain Receivers Association, which was made up primarily of the houses in Chicago for the purpose of opposing faulty weighing practices by the railroads and discrimination of freight rates into Chicago.

·        The Southern Illinois Grain Buyers Association, which we know met in Alton on June 16, 1895 but very little of their history is known.

·        The Illinois Grain Merchants Protective Association, which was formed primarily to deal with the many problems that the grain elevators had with the railroads.  It was also known as the Illinois Association and often had meetings with associations from other states.  In 1894 they changed their name to the Illinois Board of Trade and in 1895 this association took up the name of Illinois Grain Dealers Association.

 The Farmers Grain Dealers Association 1903-1971

The first farmer-owned company to operate in Illinois was the Sheldon Cooperative Grain Association in Sheldon which was incorporated in 1887.  The elevator was destroyed by fire in 1893 and its charter was canceled in 1897.  The Goodwine Grain Company was the second farmer-owned grain company to organize.  It was organized in 1889.  Goodwine Cooperative Elevator is the oldest farmer-owned cooperative elevator still in operation today.  By 1901, there were 19 farmer-owned cooperative elevators operating in Illinois. 

Farmers and others chose to market their grain in very unique and often controversial ways during the early years.  The farmers’ perception was that they were being treated unfairly by the private elevators.  The farmers were not considered dealers in the sense that they bought the grain and in turn sold it.  They were considered “scoopers” by the regular dealers (those with grain facilities who considered themselves to be permanent) because they would make arrangements with the railroad for a box car and collectively scoop the car full of grain, then ship it to Chicago and other markets, bypassing the elevator. 

From 1901 to 1905, there was a lot of fighting between the railroads, terminals markets, commission houses and private elevators and cooperative elevators.  Those who felt that the farmers’ elevator movement was a threat to the more established businesses reacted with a boycott of the cooperative elevators and others who were not considered legitimate operators.  This encouraged fighting not only between the country elevators, but also between the terminals and commission houses as they tried to decide which elevators to do business with.  The Chicago market was never closed to the farmers elevators’ shipments but the boycott put quite a number of smaller markets out of reach of the cooperative elevators for some time.

It was in this hectic environment that the Farmers Dealers Association was formed.  A group of farmers representing 17 companies who were interested in cooperative markets met in Springfield on February 19, 1903, to organize for mutual protection and systemic advancement. 

More information about the Farmers Grain Dealers Association may be found in the History of the Farmers Elevator Movement in Illinois written by Lawrence Farlow, who served as secretary of the Association from 1919-1958 and as secretary-treasurer from 1958 to 1963.

Illinois Feed Association 1944-1964

In 1893, the manufacture and sale of commercial feed was, for all practical purposes, nonexistent.  Illinois passed a feed law in 1906.  Most of the early feed laws required only that the protein and fat content of the feed or feed stuff, not all the ingredients of a mixed feed, be declared.

Retail feed stores at the turn of the century usually handled both flour and feed, and with the great amount of home baking being done, flour sales were often greater than feed sales.

One of the first men to combine by-product ingredients and put them out in the form of a commercially mixed feed was Ferdinand Schumacher in Akron, Ohio.  Schumacher, a pioneer oat miller, was also engaged in processing barley, corn and wheat for human consumption.  His first mill was established in Akron in 1856.  About 1885, Schumacher conceived the idea that the by-products of his food processing might have value as animal feed.  Schumacher made no attempt to produce a scientifically balanced ration; he was simply interested in disposing of by-products.  Yet he engaged in work of far greater import than he knew.  His simple “COB Feed” (made of the by-products of milling corn, oats and barley) laid the foundation for a rising industry which other minds would improve and carry forward. 

Three companies share the honor of first making this type of feed:  the Great Western Cereal Company, the American Cereal Company, and the Cleveland Linseed Oil Company.  All had mills in or near Chicago.  The first two eventually became a part of the present Quaker Oats Company. The Cleveland Linseed Oil Company produced a product called “Sucrene Oil Meal.”  It was marketed in the Pennsylvania dairy districts by Brooke and Pennock of Philadelphia.  Two years later the Cleveland Linseed Oil Company was merged with the American Linseed Company and the manufacture of mixed feeds was discontinued. 

Since the Schumacher Milling Company of Akron, Ohio later became a part of the American Cereal Company, and both the American and Great Western Cereal Companies became a part of the Quaker Oats Company, the Quaker Oats Company was the first manufacturer to distribute commercial feeds in any large volume in the United States.

In 1894 a St. Louis firm, the Robinson-Danforth Commission Company (later Purina Mills) began manufacturing a horse and mule feed made from crushed grains.  Their product soon gained acceptance among the sugar planters along the Mississippi River and laid the foundation for a nationwide business in manufactured feeds.

While manufactured feeds actually got their start around 1875, the real growth came after 1900.  Up to that time, the feed industry had largely consisted of trading in hay, grain and millfeeds.

The technology, management expertise and problems of feed manufacturing were much different from grain handling.

The 20^th century saw technological advancement unparalleled in history. Agriculture advancement and the ability of the livestock farmer to keep pace with the demand of the American people for meat, milk and eggs during the first three quarters of the century is an amazing story.  Improvements in breeding, management and feeding all played a very important role in the contribution of the livestock industry to the American way of life.  The feed industry’s role in serving the livestock producer provided opportunities and challenges. 

The need for a feed association in Illinois originated in the minds of leading feed people during the urgency of World War II.  During the fall and winter months of 1944, a Regional Committee was in charge of the distribution of protein meals during the allocation period when there just wasn’t enough protein to go around.  These men, and others, with a difficult task to perform, realized how much they were handicapped by not having any kind of an organization of feed men in Illinois to refer to as a source of information about feed uses and feed needs, and as a clearing house for the distribution of information regarding the activities of the committee and the availabilities of protein meals in particular and all feedstuffs in general. 

The President of the American Feed Manufacturers Association, Ralph M. Field, was asked to assist in bringing together a few of the interested feed people in the state to discuss the feasibility of perfecting or creating a feed association.  This meeting was held in Springfield on March 4, 1944 and upon complete agreement as to a real need for such an organization, it was decided that a steering committee made up of feed manufacturers in Illinois should be called together to work out a definite organization as quickly as possible.  On April 25, 1944, an organization meeting was held in Urbana under the auspices of the College of Agriculture of the University of Illinois.  Directors were elected and a fine program was developed with a great deal of mutual good will and understanding between members of the industry and the University.

The Illinois Feed Association was an example in educational effort.  With the cooperation and assistance of the College of Agriculture, they sponsored a county level program to give county groups of feedmen and others a basic working program for uniform dissemination of educational information on the production of livestock and poultry. In addition to working with the University through the county feed clubs, the Association promoted cooperation and coordination with veterinarians, realizing that a good relationship with them would be beneficial for the feed industry. (Next Page)