THE SPRINGFIELD MILKSHED 3 



Dealers' Product Costs for this milkshed have already been published: Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletins 363 and 365, respectively. 



The present study is made up of two parts: the first a description of the milk- 

 shed; the second an analysis of producers' farm prices. 



Table 1. — Ratio of Wholesale Milk Prices Received by Massachusetts 



Farmers to Prices Paid by Farmers 



1910-14 = 100 



♦Index Numbers of Massacliusetts Farm Products. 1910-1940 M. S. C. Extension Service 1940. 



PART I 

 SPRINGFIELD-HOLYOKE-CHIOPEE MILKSHED 



Geography 



The farms from which the Springfield-Holyoke-Chicopee market area draws its 

 supply are located in the towns and counties shown in figure 1. Boundaries 

 of municipalities, however, meant little as far as location of the supply was con- 

 cerned. Roads, topography, relative prices, and alternative enterprises were for 

 the most part the determining factors. The grouping of producers as shown in 

 this figure, partially illustrates the influence of natural conditions. Since no 

 particular attention was given to ascertaining the cause for the individual farmer's 

 selling in the market, the effect of dealer influence can only be surmised. The 

 grouping of producers also illustrates the influences of alternative enterprises. 

 The sparseness of large-scale dairy units in the river bottom land is no surprise 

 to anyone familiar with the high cost land (the burden of which is being met by 

 the intensive cash cropping currently of onions, potatoes, and tobacco). The 

 concentration of production in other areas was the result of natural conditions 

 which are more favorable to livestock production than any other enterprise and 

 of economic advantages arising from priority in and nearness to the market. 

 (Viz. Area 2.) 



