:March, 1923. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



233 



the farmer, it being only too plainly ap- 

 parent that he, and he only, can perma- 

 nently remove the difficulties under which 

 lie labours. Participation in marketing 

 will supply him tlie material and mental 

 sinews of war with which to do it. 



If it be therefore admitted that taking 

 a leading part in the business of marketing 

 his product, is advantageous, what are the 

 possibilities for his success in his field of 

 endeavou)-? Let it be pointed out that 

 this is a practically new field for him. He 

 is not as fully equipped with a natural in- 

 stinct for modern business bred of the ex- 

 perience of generations, as he is in the 

 production field. Moreover modern busi- 

 ness has in itself no background of history 

 to create, even among the rank and file of 

 those now engaged therein, an instinctive 

 ability to follow the proper course. It 

 becomes doubly necessary therefore that 

 the farmer, advancing of necessity into 

 this field, be supplied with all the assist- 

 ance and guidance that it is possible to 

 give him. The basic principles of busi- 

 ness, and the fundamentals particularly of 

 marketing organization must be discover- 

 ed and put at his command. This work is 

 the duty and the very essential and im- 

 mediate duty of the trained agricultural 

 economist. Much immediate harm, trouble 

 and loss may be incurred, in fact much has 

 already been incurred within the past 

 few years, by farmer's co-operative enter- 

 prises, which have failed or nearly failed 

 tlirough a lack of knowledge of the econ- 

 omic laws guiding successful business. To 

 avoid the many pitfalls lurking in the 

 course of marketing business the farmer 

 and his group enterprises must be pro- 

 vided with necessary information derived, 

 not from superficial and conjectural exa- 

 mination of so-called successful business, 

 but from a scientific and analytical dis- 

 covery of the basic economic laws govern- 

 ing successful business. In a general sense 

 he must have information on world ma: ket 

 conditions, and world sources of supply 

 and demand for specific farm products. In 

 a more particular sense he must be plainly 

 shown the importance of preparation, grad- 

 ing, handling, transportation and storage 

 of his products, and the costs and diffi- 

 culties of these essential services. As his 

 marketing enterprises are likely to be es- 

 sentially co-operative in character, the 



basic features of organization, government, 

 size, membership cohesion, contract of sup- 

 ply, and most important of all, finance of 

 co-operative enterprises must be placed at 

 liis command. 



These several features are all possible of 

 attainment by orderly, logical, and prac- 

 tical investigation and research. Modern 

 })usiness may not be old in years, co-opera- 

 tive marketing by farmers and other groups 

 is only at the threshold of a new but prom- 

 ising life, but enough has been done in 

 both fields to provide a wide experience in 

 both success and failure, an experience suf- 

 ficiently wide in both success and failure, 

 if clearly analyzed and crj'stalized, to per- 

 mit of conscious and deliberate applica- 

 tion in shaping the destiny of successful 

 fanner operation of the business of mar- 

 keting to which the Canadian farmer is 

 rapidly approacliing. 



Therefore, it would appear that the 

 greatest opportunity for immediate good 

 results tliat will help to establish economic 

 science on its true footing as the greatest 

 aid that the farmer can have, lies in the 

 field of distribution. Admitting that the 

 field of production also provides such 

 great opportunity of good practical assist- 

 ance that it can not be longer neglected, 

 let me point out that the long history of 

 farm production has provided a saving 

 economic instinct, while, the infancy of 

 marketing demands a guiding force scien- 

 tifically evolved out of its short past ex- 

 perience, by the efforts of economic science. 



THE OUTLOOK FOR DAIRYING. 



Two addresses delivered by Mr. J. A. 

 Ruddiek, Dominion Dairy and Cold Stor- 

 age Commissioner, before the last annual 

 conventions of the Eastern and Western 

 Ontario Dairymen's Associations, have, by 

 request, been published by the Depaitment 

 of Agriculture at Ottawa in pamphlet form 

 and can be had on application to the Pub- 

 lications Branch of the Department. One 

 deals with the Outlook for Dairying in 

 Canada, and in doing so tells of whaifc is 

 being done by countries that are our ri- 

 vals in the British market, and what ad- 

 vances are necessary if Canada is to suc- 

 cessfully compete with them. The other 

 address deals with the Marketing of Dairy 

 Produce. 



