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Article: When a co-op dies: long-time gin closes doors, one more casualty of California's shrinking cotton industry.
- Article from:
- Rural Cooperatives
- Article date:
- May 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Business - Cooperative Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Larry Gallian grew up with Visalia Cooperative Cotton Gin in his blood. Gallian's father served as gin superintendent of the California operation from 1951 until 1982, helping build it into one of the best-known cotton businesses in the San Joaquin Valley.
At its peak, the gin annually produced 30,000 bales of cotton and returned about $1 million to members after ginning costs. Every July, up to 1,500 people from the surrounding community flocked to the gin for the "Tennessee Bologna Feed" put on by Gallian's father.
The younger Gallian continued the gin's prominence after he took over as Visalia Co-op's manager in 1964. He would go on to serve as ...