J. C. Shinn

J. C. Shinn

J. C. Shinn was a orchardist in Niles, California, and a former director for a cooperative fruit drying association. Shinn published a letter in the California State Commission of Horticulture's monthly bulletin about the challenges of cooperatives and of selling dried fruit in Alameda County so near the canneries.

I was president of a cooperative fruit drying association for some years. Although we got along all right for some time, we finally decided to disband because of the uncertainty about the whole matter. When the fruit was dried and ready for sale we were not in touch with the Eastern markets and could not tell what the conditions were. If dealers came along and offered a good figure we sold and later on the price might advance."

About orchards in Alameda County:

"The county of Alameda, in which I live, is a difficult county to interest in dried fruit organizations. We are close to the canning factories and we sell our apricots very largely to the canners, and a great many of us joined the organization just for the sake of helping the general market. In my own case, I plan as a rule to sell my fruit direct to the canners, but I thought it paid me to go into the organization because it steadied the market for the fresh fruit as well as for the dried fruit. We have a great many foreigners farming in Alameda County in a small way and I did not suppose they could be convinced that it would be to their interest to go into the organization, but as a matter of fact, a great many have taken advantage of the opportunity."