December 1953 page 11

[image: FARMERS EXCHANGE IN DURHAM HAS 100,000 SQ. FT. BUILDINGS ON FIVE ACRES]

Farmers Exchange . . . it serves 13,000 patrons

DURHAM is many things to many
people. To some it is cigarettes and
the smell of tobacco, to others it is Duke
University, to others it is a medical
center, and to still others a shopping
town.

But to farmers Durham has yet an-
other facet. It is a marketing and buying
center for some 13,000 men of the soil
in five counties of central North Caro-
lina. it is not so much that Durham it-
self is the market place but rather that
Durham is the home of the Central
Carolina Farmers Exchange, Inc., a
marketing and buying organization which
in 23 years has mushroomed from three
employees and an investment of $2400
into a multi-million dollar business.

Back in 1930, just as the nation was
coming to grips with its worst economic
depression, farmers were strugglign for
their very existence. County agents and
farming experts were urging them to
diversity their farming -- to raise poultry
and beef and get into dairying. But
without any guarantee of a place to
market their products after they raised
them, farmers took a dim view of this
idea.

It was to fill this marketing void that
the Farmers Exchange was organized
under the leadership of George Watts
Hill and other far-sighted business men.
On March 13, 1930, some 400 farmers met
in Durham and organized the Exchange.
Its purpose was to develop markets for
diversified farm products and to buy such
items as feed, fertilizers, and seed in
bulk quantities and pass the savings on
to the individual farmers.

The first manager

C. W. Tilson, a young county agent in
Jackson County in Western North Caro-
lina who had already achieved a reputa-
tion for developing markets, was offered
the job of manager. He accepted, moved
to Durham, and has been the manager

12 SEMAPHORE