Between the Farmer and Consumer

Roy W. Lennartson.

Marketing is the link between production and consumption.

For half a century the Department of Agriculture has worked on problems of marketing. Grading and standardization of farm products, market news services, marketing agreements, and regulatory acts to prevent fraud were among the services developed to meet the essential needs of the marketing system.

Those services, however, were not enough to keep pace with production and population. The Congress in 1946 recognized the need and enacted the Research and Marketing Act.

A major objective stated in the Act is ". . . . to promote through research, study, experimentation . . . a scientific approach to the problems of marketing, transportation, and distribution of agricultural products, similar to the scientific methods which have been utilized so successfully during the past 84 years in connection with the production of agricultural products, so that such products capable of being produced in abundance may be marketed in an orderly manner and efficiently distributed."

The long-range program is based first on the knowledge of marketing accumulated in the Department over the years. Second is the selection, in consultation among Department officials and committees representing agricultural industries, of the problems for which solutions are most needed. The problems and the plans for their solution are specified formally in project descriptions, which determine the lines along which the work is to proceed. The marketing service programs involve constant and direct contact with farmers and businessmen who deal in farm products, and is an important source of information on marketing and its problems.

The market news service, for example, is Nation-wide. It furnishes information concerning prices, supplies, and marketing trends in nearby and distant markets to producers and traders. The development of standards for grades requires of the workers a knowledge of the elements that make up good quality and attractiveness to the consumer in nearly all farm products. Actual grading and inspection work gives an opportunity to learn the problems of the trade directly from those taking part in the commercial transactions.

From those roots and from periodic conferences of Department workers and representatives of agricultural industries has grown a list of projects to develop new services and to improve the older functions. Cotton, wool, grain, livestock, fruits, vegetables the whole range of farm products are touched by the new endeavors.

The projects to improve the movement of products from farm to consumer are of five groups :

First, improved collection and dissemination of basic information on supplies, prices, and the movement of farm products.

Second, expansion of outlets for farm products at home and abroad.

Third, analyses of marketing operations and of the costs and margins associated with them.

Fourth, improvement in the preparation and handling of farm products.

Fifth, evaluation and improvement of the facilities and practices employed in marketing.

THE MEANING of marketing in this program is comprehensive. It includes the preparation of commodities for sale from the farm, their assembly, transportation, packing, packaging, processing, preservation, storing, wholesaling, and retailing all the steps between producer and consumer. It includes marketing services, facilities, trade practices, and trade barriers.

There has not yet been time for the broader studies to go fully into all aspects of our marketing system, but some of the early results exemplify the scope of the work.

Among the first developments was an electronic scale for weighing livestock at markets. The device, almost completely automatic, eliminates most of the possibility of human and mechanical errors that sometimes affect the ordinary type of weighbeam scale.

A study of the economics of prepackaging sweet corn in Florida for sale in many States revealed possibilities for a large trade in sweet corn grown in the South in winter. It kept its high quality when it was properly refrigerated. Housewives reported that they liked it and found it reasonable in cost. The study demonstrated some interesting possibilities : An additional delicacy might be placed on the Nation's tables in seasons when it had not previously been generally available; it is not necessary to ship the corn husks and trimmings, as has usually been done, but the husks can be used in feeding livestock at the point of production; and spoilage can be reduced materially below the usual rate.

Intensive training courses for retailers of fresh fruits and vegetables have reduced the rates of spoilage of perishables and increased the sales of more than 95 percent of the retailers who reported on results. The training includes instruction on handling of such produce, its preservation overnight, effective display methods, and other practices conducive to less waste and greater sales. Within 2 years after the courses were begun, some 15,000 grocers had taken the training. A survey among them showed that many had adopted in their stores the practices recommended in the courses. Some of the men remodeled their entire produce departments in order to apply the methods more effectively.

A study of self-service merchandising of prepackaged meats provided a guide for retailers who were considering the conversion of their meat departments to the self-service basis, threw light on the costs involved in such a change, and listed the problems that required particular attention.

The value of white potatoes as feed for livestock, particularly the small and low-grade potatoes that sometimes get into commercial channels and discourage purchasers, was pointed out as a result of another study. One series of feeding tests and experiments in which potatoes were used as a part of the rations for cattle, hogs, sheep, and other animals disclosed that such feeding can be profitable to both potato and livestock growers when the size or quality of the product fed is low, and, sometimes, when markets are oversupplied. The report on the experiments set forth that milk production often increased sharply and beef cattle and hogs gained weight fast when potatoes formed a part of the usual rations. The death rate for lambs was reported to be lower when potatoes were included in the rations of ewes.

The quality and staple lengths of cotton most widely used in making each of several major textile products were surveyed in another study. The findings provided a guide to the kinds of fiber regarded as best for the different products and indicated the probable demand for cotton of the various kinds. The results thus may be useful to mills and cotton producers.

A series of investigations of marketing costs and margins pointed out marketing operations in which there is a wide spread between what the farmer receives and what the consumer pays. This type of study indicates the areas in which work might be done to develop more economical marketing practices so that the price spread can be reduced to the advantage of producer, tradesman, and consumer.

SURVEYS of wholesale produce markets in several cities provide bases for needed improvements in facilities and practices. New markets have been built in Jackson, Miss. ; Trenton, N. J. ; and Greenville, S. C., in line with Department recommendations. Improvements have been made in existing markets at Benton Harbor, Mich.; Miami, Fla.; and Atlanta, Ga., and construction of new markets is under way in St. Louis, Mo.; Columbia, S. C.; and San Antonio, Tex. The market at Dallas, Tex., is being improved and will eventually become a modern efficient market. The Department has submitted plans for new markets in Columbia, S. C. ; Boston, Mass.; Indianapolis, Ind.; Tyler, Tex.; Norfolk, Va.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Tulsa, Okla.