Small Agriculture: A National Agricultural Library Digital Exhibit

Community Food Preservation Centers

National Agricultural Library

victory gardens

Community food preservation centers now in operation range all the way from homes with a base of neighborhood operations in the back yard to former commercial canning and refrigerator plants that have been taken over by the community. They include use of church and community kitchens and home economics laboratories: converted store buildings, laundries, and creameries. In one State so many communities have built their own plants that the State agricultural college sends out a pamphlet of building plans, based on practical experience. Equipment ranges from home-size pressure cookers and vats made by the local blacksmith to hotel- and factory- size retorts with an investment of thousands of dollars. Some centers serve individual families; some, the schools and institutions of a county; some, large sections of low-income population. Products are varied by geography; processes by food habits. Out of this great variety some helpful generalizations may be drawn.

Furman, Bess

Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics

1941