198 Cooperation in Agriculture 



THE FRUIT-DISTRIBUTING SYSTEM 



The cost of distribution of the fruit crop of the United 

 States from the producer to the consumer usually equals 

 about one-half of the price which the consumer pays 

 for the product. The distribution costs include the 

 freight, the different selling charges of the brokers, job- 

 bers, commission merchants, and retail dealers, and the 

 various local distributing charges. Apples that bring 

 the producer $2 a barrel, retail at the rate of $4 

 to $8 per barrel. Lemons that cost the producer seven 

 to eight cents a dozen to grow, cost the consumer twenty 

 to thirty cents a dozen, the producer, the transportation 

 lines, and the other distributing agencies each getting 

 about one-third of the retail price. The cost of distri- 

 bution, if excessive, affects the profits of the fruit-grower 

 by reducing consumption and by giving him a small 

 share of the price which the consumer pays for the fruit. 

 The conviction has been growing that the system of dis- 

 tributing farm products has become so complicated and 

 cumbersome as to form one of the leading factors in the 

 increase in the cost of living and in reducing the profits 

 of the producer below that which his capital and labor 

 warrant. There is a general inquiry into the cost of 

 distributing food products in the United States, and pro- 

 ducers and consumers are looking into the methods of 

 farm crop distribution more critically than ever before 

 with a view to determining how these charges affect the 

 farmer's interest and the cost of living. 



