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Show . 232,000 More Latest figures of the department depart-ment of agriculture reveal that there were 232,000 more persons employed on American farms on June 1 than on the same date a year ago. past built "consumer resistance" to better grades during peak movements, move-ments, are being reduced. Growers are building their home markets, with the active aid of distributors, dis-tributors, extension services and agricultural ag-ricultural leaders. Retail distributors, distribu-tors, chain and independent, at the request of growers, are staging timely advertising and promotion campaigns. .'In brief, growers are striving to place marketing on a non-speculative non-speculative basis and to develop Streamlined Distribution Increases Farm Income Consumers Heeded, Marketing Plans Are Developed, Standards Raised. For years Jefferson county, Kentucky, growers sent their Irish potatoes into northern markets to compete with plentiful plenti-ful supplies from other sections of the country. When the 1941 harvest season opened last July with the northern market heavily glutted, grower-members of the St. Matthews Produce Exchange, Jefferson County Co-operative, prepared to give up potatoes as a cash crop. In a last desperate effort to salvage their cash crop, R. W. Hite, president of the exchange, called his membership to- s , . 1 1 t -.ivj T;H WJl llm h f ci- ir 1 .p.: . r. ' - ! 1- ifiwfwJ "': -t r .r-ir v i J v - 4 L . Tl w&iLiiA ........ ...T?r,J3 jether for a meeting with a group v( distributors and restaurant operators. oper-ators. Instead of trying to move the potatoes into overloaded outside markets, the growers agreed with several distributors to seek to develop de-velop a market within the state through a "Kentucky Potato Campaign." Cam-paign." The resulting drive enabled the stores to move a large percentage percent-age of the Crop locally and. to boost prices paid the association 40 per cent. Now, instead of reducing their production, the 150 members of the exchange plan a 10 per cent increase in-crease this year in line with the federal government's request for greater production of fresh fruits and vegetables to aid the "Food for Victory" program. The Kentuckians' experience is one of many examples of how growers throughout the country are attacking the major problem prob-lem created by the Increased production called for in the "Food for Victory" drlve finding find-ing profitable markets for the great crops of fresh fruits and vegetables now ripening In the fields and orchards of America. Amer-ica. Production no longer is the problem prob-lem farmers throughout the nation are responding wholeheartedly to the government's appeal for more fresh fruits and vegetables for America's dining tables. This year's crop yields, intention reports of the department of agriculture indicate, will be the largest since 1933. Production increases in certain crops and in certain sections of the country are tremendous. Through June 13, the department of agriculture agricul-ture reported, rail shipments of commercial truck crops were 13 per cent greater than a year ago. Movement Move-ment was heavier for beans, beets, carrots, cauliflower, green corn, cucumbers, cu-cumbers, mixed vegetables, onions, spinach, cantaloupes, strawberries and Irish potatoes. During one two-week two-week period alone, shipment of commercial early potatoes rose nearly 2,000 cars above the corresponding corre-sponding period of 1941. Growers. Improve Production. Along the fruit front increases as large as those for fresh vegetables are not likely it takes years to develop new fruit trees. However, growers are expected to improve production through more applications applica-tions of fertilizers, better orchard management practices and elimination elimina-tion of as much waste as possible :f production, harvesting and processing. pro-cessing. With production under control, the nation's growers now must make ure that their "vitamin bullets" teach the 130,000,000 Americans for whom they are intended. As Secretary of Agriculture Wickard recently pointed out, FARM TO RETAIL STORE COOP METHOD Members of the Pennsylvania Co-operative Potato Growers association associa-tion market 60 per cent of their output by moving it direct from farms in 45 counties to nearby retail stores. As a result, the 848 growers marketing mar-keting through the association last year got 80 cents of the retail dollar, far above the national average share. An association truck is shown unloading potatoes at the back door of a large retail store. production is "only the first step. Food, as one of the munitions mu-nitions of total war, is effective only when it is in the right form, at the right place, and at the right time." Realizing more than ever that their job does not end with the harvest har-vest but instead extends to the consumer's con-sumer's market basket, farmers are paying increasing attention to the necessity of streamlining the distribution distri-bution system to eliminate waste and to increase tfieir own cash returns. re-turns. With fruit and vegetable growers throughout the country getting get-ting only 35 cents of the retail dollar dol-lar for their sales through all trade channels, growers are seeking to perform their own operations at the lowest possible cost while at the most economical marketing channels. chan-nels. Working with distributors, extension exten-sion directors, county agents and heads of state colleges of agriculture, agricul-ture, growers are developing marketing mar-keting programs and are making organized or-ganized efforts to raise grade and pack standards to meet consumer demand. Movements of early season sea-son poor varieties and immature produce, shipments of which in the full co-operation among growers, grow-ers, shippers, distributors and state and federal marketing agencies in the job of moving food from farm to dinner table. Farmers are increasing their marketing efficiency in a variety of ways. In Alabama, for example, thousands of bushels of tomatoe grown in Blount county in recent years were bought by itinerant truckers at unusually low prices. The truckers then hauled the tomatoes toma-toes 100 miles across country -to Atlanta and sold them to wholesalers. wholesal-ers. Often the wholesalers trucked them back more than 100 miles to Birmingham, only a short distance dis-tance from Blount county. Farmers Got Almost Nothing, j Consumers frequently paid sky high prices for the tomatoes because be-cause of the expenses of the trip, various handling costs and profits yet the farmers themselves got almost al-most nothing. Thus when the A 4c P last summer guaranteed the Blount Countians a market for their tomatoes toma-toes if they would set up a marketing market-ing co-operative to assure quality and quantity, the growers respond-: ed immediately. With the active backing of the f . tr Tf : 1 ' i Xx. Agricultural Extension service and the marketing support of the stores, 75 growers formed the Blount County Coun-ty Tomato Growers association, bought a second-hand grader and 1,600 tomato crates with an investment invest-ment of less than $700 and began operations the first of September. Association members averaged $2.50 a bushel the first two months, double, the top average in past years. In New England, New Hampshire potato growers worked out with chain stores a direct farm-to-store marketing operation which returned' to the farmers 78 cents of the. retail dollar, compared with the national average share of only 52 cents for all grades marketed through trade channels. In Pennsylvania, 848 grower-members grower-members of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Co-operative Potato Growers association associa-tion have developed a direct farm-to-retail-store system unique in the annals of farm marketing. The cooperative co-operative sells 60 per cent of its output on a "streamlined" basis whereby growers deliver individually individual-ly to nearby stores. With no middleman save the grocery gro-cery counter, both farmer and consumer con-sumer benefit. Potatoes for which the grower is paid from 17 to 19 cents per peck are sold to the consumer con-sumer for only 20 to 21 cents. During Dur-ing the 1941-42 marketing season, the association sold 4,918,499 pecks for $1,324,065. Fruit and vegetable growers throughout the nation face other big problems resulting from the nation's war effort. Transportation, both rail and truck, is becoming more and more of a problem as rail facilities facili-ties are taxed to capacity. Working with the extension services, serv-ices, other agricultural leaders and distributors, farmers are moving to solve this problem, too. Movement of produce directly from farm to retail store U being increased. Where possib'e, farmers are finding find-ing markets closer to home for theii fruits and vegetable. DIRECT MARKETING IN S. CAROLINA Farmers, seeking to solve transportation problems created by the war and also find more profitable markets for their produce, are moving much of their produce as directly as possible from farm to retail stores. Here L. C. White (right), field buyer for the Atlantic Commission company, watches peaches being loaded onto a truck at a packing shed operated by members of the Ridge Peach and Vegetable association at Ridge Spring, S. C. The truck takes the fresh peaches directly to retail stores. |