Stanton Cannery

Mr. Richard Turner

The Stanton Cannery was opened in 1973 by the Chickasaw Area Development Commission. Richard Turner has operated the Cannery since it opened, training in Milledgeville as early as 1971. He still runs the Cannery today.
The Cannery originally opened to encourage low-income families to raise gardens and can their excess produce for later consumption. It was an effort to stretch the benefits of food stamps. When the Cannery first opened it was open for only 9 months of the year, but after 1975, it was open year-round. The Chickasaw Area Development Commission opened five more canneries in 1975, one each in five surrounding counties. The Stanton Cannery serviced the public free of charge from the time it opened in March 1973 until Oct 1979.
In 1979, the CADC decided that if they were to keep the Stanton Cannery open, they would have to limit its free use to only low income people. Shortly thereafter Haywood County took over the operation of the Cannery and the services were available to anyone. The charge for using the Cannery was set at $2 per item (an item being each type of vegetable, fruit or meat.) Those prices are still in effect today.
During an average season, Richard cans about 23,000 quarts of vegetables, grinds about 9,000 lbs of sausage, 3,000 lbs of deer burger, and (between 1975-1998), made about 150 gallons of hog lard per season. There is not as much demand now for hog lard as there once was. On average, 425 families use the Cannery per year. These customers come from six surrounding counties: Haywood, Tipton, Fayette, Hardeman, Madison and Crockett.
Canning season for vegetables starts in May and lasts until November. Meat season runs from mid November to the end of February.
To Richard’s knowledge, the Stanton Cannery is the only cannery that has survived of the six originally opened by the CADC in West Tennessee.
On August 18, 2007, Richard Turner, the man dedicated to running the Stanton Cannery since it opened in 1973, was honored with a certificate of Congressional Recognition from the office of Congressman John Tanner. The office of Representative Jimmy Naifeh also honored Richard with a Certificate of Congratulations for his loyal and diligent service to the Stanton Cannery.