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From the archives of Rural Cooperatives
50 Years Ago...
From the May & June 1958 issue of News for Farmer Cooperatives
Poultry industry sees exempt trucking
Lower rates and better service — these are the principal
benefits arising from the interstate trucking of fresh- and
frozen-processed poultry under the agricultural exemption
clause. This statement is based on information revealed in a
nationwide study of poultry processors and motor carriers
conducted jointly by the USDA Agriculture Marketing
Service and the Farmers Cooperative Service.
The exemption refers to the 1935 Motor Carrier Act, as
amended, which contains a clause stating that agricultural
commodities are exempt from economic regulation by the
Interstate Commerce Commission.
In April 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed a decision
by the District Court of the Southern District of Texas that
both fresh and frozen dressed poultry came under the
agricultural exemption clause.
Farmer cooperatives have an interest in this exemption and
its effect on their operations. These co-ops market 6 percent
of the entire U.S. volume of broilers and other poultry,
excluding turkeys. In 1956, this amounted to 213 million
pounds (ready-to-cook weight). Farmer co-ops also marketed
16 percent of the total U.S. production of turkeys in 1956.
30 Years Ago...
From the May & June 1978 issues of Farmer Cooperatives
Co-op farm exports help pay
for petroleum imports
Seventy-three cooperatives directly exported agricultural
commodities valued at more than $2 billion in 1976. That
represented 9.2 percent of total U.S. agricultural exports.
USDA Cooperative Services conducted a survey of export
activity in part to respond to a flood of requests for factual
information about the nature and extent of participation by
co-ops in international trade. The data will also aid other
marketing research work aimed at increasing cooperative
export activity.
Interest in cooperative exports is the greatest it has ever
been. One reason is widespread understanding of the critical
need for a high level of exports to pay, at least in part, for
increasingly costly imports of petroleum. Secretary Bergland
has brought attention to the desirability of greater cooperative
participation in the huge international grain trade.
The top four commodities exported, based on value at U.S.
ports, were the same for co-ops as for all U.S. agricultural
exports: feed grains (87 percent of which was corn), wheat,
soybeans and cotton. The four crops accounted for 65 percent
of total U.S. exports and 68 percent of cooperative exports.
Data from the 73 direct-exporting co-ops document the
foothold co-ops have in international trade, demonstrating the
potential for a greater export role in the future.
10 Years Ago...
From the May/June 1998 issue of Rural Cooperatives
Freshwater Farms: Generating more jobs
from Mississippi catfish
Delta Pride Catfish may be the world’s biggest catfish
processor, but it’s certainly not the only one. Catfish
production is a major industry in Mississippi, and one Delta
county in particular, Humphreys County, is known as the
catfish capital of the world.
“The biggest cash crop in Humphreys County is catfish
production,” says Freshwater Farms president Larry E.
Shurden. “We’ve got more than 30,000 acres of catfish
ponds.”
Headquartered in the heart of Humphreys County,
Freshwater Farms Inc. is a small, but growing, catfish
marketing and processing company. “This year, we’ll do $22
million in sales,” says Shurden. “In two years, we expect to do
$30 million.”
With the help of a $2.5 million USDA Rural Development
Business and Industry loan guarantee, Freshwater Farms
opened a state-of-the-art catfish processing plant in 1997 near
Belzoni. The company borrowed another $3 million from
state, federal and local sources to build the 50,000-square-foot
plant.
Freshwater Farms now employs 210 local workers and
processes some 25 catfish products, including whole fish,
fillets, nuggets, strips and steaks. Some 70 percent of the
company’s catfish is individually quick-frozen, and the rest is
fresh ice-packed. But the company has plans for moving into
the value-added arena.
The survival of Freshwater Farms is critical to Humphreys
County. About half of the County’s population of 11,000 lives
within a few miles of Belzoni, where many work for the
catfish sector.
