Handling, Distributing, and Sale of Fruit 247 



Present Cooperative Methods of Citrus Distribution 



As long as the country is prosperous and the present 

 method of distribution and sale takes care of the increase 

 in production, the producers will be satisfied to continue 

 the methods now in operation. As the fruit business 

 increases, and it is likely to double in volume in the next 

 fifteen years, it may be necessary for the growers' asso- 

 ciations to still further develop the methods of distribu- 

 tion so that the fruit may be placed in the consumer's 

 hands at a cost nearer that which the producer himself 

 receives. The system which has been adopted by the 

 citrus-fruit growers has brought about economies in the 

 purchase of supplies, in preparing the product for ship- 

 ment, and in the cost of selling the fruit ; it has secured 

 lower freight rates, reduced the losses from bad debts; 

 it has standardized the physical handling of the fruit, the 

 grading and the packing, and has thereby given the con- 

 sumer a better product ; it creates a demand for oranges 

 and lemons by advertising, and it distributes the product 

 uniformly to the wholesale trade throughout the year and 

 throughout the country. This uniformity in distribution 

 has increased the demand for citrus fruits and has resulted 

 in a lower retail price to the consumer and gives a larger 

 proportion of the retail price to the producer. The co- 

 operative method sometimes doubles the net returns to 

 the grower without affecting the price which the consumer 

 has to pay. There is a wide difference between the price 

 which the producer receives from the wholesale trade and 

 the price which the consumer pays for citrus fruits, a 

 recent investigation by Secretary of Agriculture, Wil- 



