Show much of food dollar goes to marketing more afore services are being performed than ever before in the marketing ot of united states food products county agent ray thatcher says in quoting economists of the U S department of agriculture the result he adds Is that a growing share of the consumers dollar is going into marketing charges for instance total labor costs have jumped more than a third because of these increased marketing services more and better packaging washing selection mixing pre cooking and preparing of products tor for the american table are a continuing trend which partially explains a widening spread between farm prices and retail costs of food according to a report on marketing and transportation recently released by the USDA several reasons are given for the increase in marketing services one of 0 the most significant Is the mounting proportion of women especially ally married women now working ok outside the home families in which the women work tend to buy more partially prepared and wholly prepared foods and eat more meals in restaurants both these practices increase marketing charges in relation to farm value of the foods consumed the county agent points out other long term trends that effect the spread between farm prices and retail prices according to the report are geographic specialization in farm production and greater concentration of our population in urban centers transportation por tation costs are increased as more of our people live farther away from the areas in which their food is produced improvement in consumer incomes is another factor described as responsible for increasing demand tor for marketing services As income improve consumers do not buy a significantly larger quantity of food but they are are willing to pay tor for the kind of services that improve the quality and attractiveness of the food they buy or save their time in preparing it |