POTATOES 145 



money paid by the consumer for Wisconsin butter. Here are 

 the figures: 



The Marketing of Wisconsin Butter. 3 Who Gets the Money? 



Eggs. Tracing a dozen eggs from an Iowa farmer to the con- 

 sumer in New York we have the following summary: 

 Eggs From Iowa Farmer to New York Consumer 



Paid the Iowa farmer 60 per cent 



Profit of country store 



Shipper, gross profit 3 " 



Freight 6 



Wholesaler (receiver, jobber) 7 



Loss from candling 8 *' 



Retailer 16 



Price to consumer 100 



The bulk of the farmer's eggs are consumed nearer home, and 

 hence bring to the farmer a larger margin. The loss from candling 

 is an unduly large margin. With proper organization of producers' 

 egg circles this margin could be entirely eliminated, and this 

 saving would doubtless go to the producer in part, and in part 

 to the consumer. 



Potatoes. -One of our best discussions of marketing is that by 

 L. D. H. Weld. 4 He estimates that the farmer receives fifty cents 

 of the consumer's dollar spent for potatoes. Here we have a 

 highly perishable product. Farmers in the northern States (where 

 most of the potatoes are grown) frequently store their own potatoes 

 in the fall, rather than sell them to the " middleman." A shrinkage 

 of from four to fifty per cent in such a case is common. Improved 

 storage facilities will overcome this risk to a certain extent. But 

 the ideal storage is difficult to secure, since this implies dry, well- 

 ventilated air, at a temperature remaining constant at about 33 

 degrees. An investigation into potato marketing conducted by the 

 University of Wisconsin gives us this table of middleman's charges: 



Price to farmer (varies from year to year) 



Local dealer's margin 5 to 10 cents 



Sacks and car linings 3 to 5 



Distributor, for finding a market 3 to 4 



Freight, including firing 8 to 10 



Wholesaler 5 to 10 



Retailer. . . 15 to 30 



3 Bulletin No. 270, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wis- 

 consin, June, 1916. 



4 Weld, L. D. H., The Marketing of Farm Products. 



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