STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 'J'J 



reached a point where farming must be placed upon a business 

 as well as a scientific footing. The problem confronting us 

 today is not so much that of increasing our production as that 

 we shall be able to dispose of that which we do produce at an 

 equitable price. Both producer and consumer are complaining ; 

 the consumer, that he pays too much for that which comes to 

 his table and the producer, that he is not receiving a fair price 

 for that which he produces. 



PRODUCTION IS ONLY HALF. 



When a farmer has raised his crop he has accomplished but 

 half his work ; the other half, that of sellmg, determines his 

 year's profits ; and here in the marketing he comes face to face 

 with his greatest problem. 



The largest cotton crop, the largest corn crop in the history 

 of our nation, have yielded the producers of these crops a less- 

 amount of profit than has been obtained in certain years of less 

 production. Also during these years of heavy yield the prices 

 paid by the consumers in most sections have not reflected in a 

 proper degree the low prices paid to the farmers. 



FAULTY DISTRIBUTION. 



To the careful observer it is evident that there is a lack of 

 an efficient system of distribution and marketing of agricultural 

 products. While one market sufifers from congestion caused by 

 an oversupply, another may be suffering from a dearth, and at 

 the same time tons of food products may be wasting in fields 

 and orchards for want of a profitable market. It is a most 

 common occurrence for one market to be glutted with a pro- 

 duct while in another there is a scarcity — this condition apply- 

 ing particularly to highly perishable products which can not be 

 placed in storage and held until there is a demand, nor shipped 

 to some distant city where there is a market. Hence it is that we 

 yearly have thousands of cars of agricultural products shipped 

 into markets only to rot or be dumped, owing to the glutted 

 condition at the time they are received. The remedy for this is 

 a more equitable distribution. 



As an example of our clumsy, inefficient method of distribu- 

 tion, the following example is cited: Steers raised in California 



