Stanwood Farmers Turned $300 and a Second-Hand Plant Into a Creamery of Their Own
A cooperative creamery at Stanwood reports a strong October, rising milk deliveries, and a plant now valued at $4,000—only two years after farmers pooled about $300 to buy used equipment.
E. A. Juel, manager of the Stanwood Co-operative Creamery, was a visitor Saturday last at the office of Ranch and Range. Mr. Juel reports that the creamery is running in quite a successful manner and that the returns to the members are now very gratifying. During October 7,700 pounds of butter were manufactured, the average price received for which amounted to 23½ cents per pound. The farmers received net 21 cents per pound for their butter fat.
The dairy interests are increasing in the Stanwood district, and the quantity of milk handled at present is 30 percent over last year. It is one of the best sections in the state for dairying.
The pay roll of the Co-operative creamery averaged up about $1,800 per month for the first two months.
The history of this creamery shows how a community working in harmony can make a success of such an enterprise. A stock company was organized in the spring of 1895 and about $300 was raised. This was not a very large amount to start a creamery on, but “where there’s a will there’s a way.” A second-hand plant was bought and moved over from Snohomish, and it was arranged to make payments on the same by deducting 2 cents for each pound of butter manufactured. In the spring of 1896, however, the farmers decided that this method of raising the debt was too slow, and in order to save interest they applied all the returns from milk sent to the creamery on the debt, and in two months the obligation was raised and the plant became their own property. Today the value of the plant is estimated at $4,000.
“The history of this creamery shows how a community working in harmony can make a success of such an enterprise.”
The Stanwood creamery was a rural cooperative before that model became familiar in Washington dairy country: farmers pooled scarce capital, bought used equipment, and retired the debt by withholding milk payments. That playbook still echoes in modern agricultural co-ops and local-food efforts, where producers try to keep processing and profits in the community rather than with distant owners.
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