Yarrow Growers’ Co-operative Association (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada)
Despite the suspicions of the tsarist government that cooperatives were communist-influenced, Mennonite cooperative associations, such as credit unions and mutual financial organizations, were common in Russia. No surprise, then, that cooperatives would be planted by Russian Mennonite immigrants on Canada’s west coast.
Still, the idea of a growers’ cooperative was a hard sell in Yarrow, British Columbia (BC), a Mennonite community established in 1928. Memories of Communist Party atrocities in the Soviet Union were still fresh and the idea of cooperatives seemed "socialist" to some. However, when Yarrow farmers suffered economically during the Great Depression, and middlemen took advantage of their vulnerabilities, the concept of a cooperative became more acceptable. William "Bill" Schellenberg stood at the center of the drive for a cooperative association. Charismatic, dynamic, focused, and somewhat irascible, Schellenberg nurtured a good relationship with J. B. Shimek, business manager of the Pacific Co-operative Union in Mission, BC, in which members were overwhelmingly of Japanese descent. Yarrow farmers were trucking their crops to the Mission facility, and it consequently seemed only natural to create their own marketing facility.
Already in 1935, the Yarrow Co-operative Association established a general store, located in the private home of Henry P. and Margaret (Enns) Neufeldt. In 1936, the Yarrow Growers’ Co-operative was established, and in 1943 the two cooperatives merged as the Yarrow Growers’ Co-operative Association. The organization was popularly known as the Yarrow Co-op. Bill Schellenberg was elected president and would remain so until the Association’s demise. Jacob C. Krause worked as general manager. Very different in temperament from Schellenberg, Krause was a quiet, meticulous individual with bookkeeping skills. He was a member of the large Yarrow Mennonite Brethren Church while Schellenberg belonged to the much smaller Yarrow United Mennonite Church. Relationships between the two churches were not consistently cordial, and some members of the MB Church inquired frankly and loudly why the president should not be a member of their own congregation.
The Co-operative prospered, especially during World War II, when the Canadian government was buying berries from Yarrow farmers. Raspberries had become the primary crop in Yarrow after growers had experimented with growing a variety of crops, including rhubarb, sugar beets, and beans. Hard work and mutual aid contributed to Yarrow’s success as a farming community, as well as, deplorably, the stripping of property from Japanese Canadian citizens from which Mennonite farmers sometimes benefited. The Co-op store was relocated to a much larger facility and became a popular place to shop.
However, the seeds of the Co-op’s disintegration were already evident, overlooked too long by the Association’s administration. Overproduction had become an issue, as were personality conflicts. Some of Yarrow’s citizens still associated cooperatives with the atrocities of forced collective farms in the Soviet Union. Additionally, with growing prosperity, farmers became increasingly individualistic and no longer felt a strong need for a cooperative organization. Then, after World War II, the Canadian government stopped purchasing berries, and the Co-op was unable properly to reimburse Yarrow farmers for their berry crops. American buyers also were no longer willing to purchase berries preserved in sulfur dioxide, the packing procedure at the Co-op.
Against Bill Schellenberg’s wishes, Co-op members voted to liquidate in 1949. Jacob Krause adapted well to the change and went to work as the accountant for Public Works in Chilliwack Township. Schellenberg returned to farming but remained bitter, feeling that he had been betrayed, that the Co-op could have survived with a little patience from its members. When the legally prescribed time for the retention of organizational minutes expired, he burned the minutes of the Yarrow Growers’ Co-operative Association in his backyard, a move he later regretted.
Bibliography
The Chilliwack Progress.
Klassen, Agatha, ed. Yarrow: A Portrait in Mosaic. Yarrow, BC: self-published, 1976.
Martens, Frida Schellenberg. Interview by author. Abbotsford, BC (25 February 2004).
Neufeldt, Leonard, Lora Neufeldt Sawatsky and Robert Martens, eds. Yarrow, British Columbia: Mennonite Promise Vol. 1. Victoria, BC: TouchWood Editions, 2002.
Pacific Co-operative Union Minutes, 1934-1974. Mission Archives, Mission, BC.
Penner, Cornelius. The Story of My Life. N.p., self-published, 1997.
Schellenberg, Abe. Interview by author, Abbotsford, BC (25 February 2004).
Schellenberg, Mary Martens. Interview by author, Abbotsford, BC (25 February 2004).
Schellenberg, William. Interview by Chuck Regehr, Yarrow, BC (1974).
| Author(s) | Robert Martens |
|---|---|
| Date Published | April 2024 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Martens, Robert. "Yarrow Growers’ Co-operative Association (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2024. Web. 21 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Yarrow_Growers%E2%80%99_Co-operative_Association_(Chilliwack,_British_Columbia,_Canada)&oldid=178676.
APA style
Martens, Robert. (April 2024). Yarrow Growers’ Co-operative Association (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 21 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Yarrow_Growers%E2%80%99_Co-operative_Association_(Chilliwack,_British_Columbia,_Canada)&oldid=178676.
©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.