Table 27. Average Distance of Farms from Dealers' Plants (miles) 



Farms Served by 

 Cooperatives 



Farms Served by 

 Proprietary Dealers 



Maine 



New Hampshire 



Vermont 



16.6 



9.9 



11.7 



23.9 



12.1 



6.9 



VIII. Experiences and Plans of Milk Dealers in the 



Bulk Assembly of Milk 



1. Number of Producers 

 Per Dealer 



Handlers or milk dealers may be 

 independent operators or iarmer- 

 owned cooperatives. The number of 

 producers per dealer of ail types 

 averaged CJ for Vermont, 65 for 

 Maine, and 39 for New Hampshire. 

 Cooperatives in Vermont averaged 

 14o producers per plant; in Maine, 

 266 producers; and in New Hamp- 

 shire, 89 producers per plant. The 

 cooperatives averaged more pro- 

 ducers per plant than the independ- 

 ents, which averaged 51 producers 

 in Vermont, 53 in Maine, and 32 in 

 New Hampshire. The larger number 

 of producers in cooperatives in- 

 creases the task of converting to 

 tanks by those organizations although 

 this was not necessarily a limiting 

 factor. 



The adoption of tanks in an area 

 will influence the sales behavior of 

 producers. Some producers will stay 

 with the dealer originating tank 

 assembly, but others will search for 

 a different dealer still accepting milk 

 in cans. Similarly, dealers receiving 

 milk solely in cans may lose pro- 

 ducers to dealers buying milk in 

 tanks. This occurs when producers 

 are convinced of the advantages to 

 them of tank over the present system. 

 For example, 10 percent of the can 



assembly dealers lost an average of 

 10 producers to dealers with tanks. 

 On the other hand, 20 percent gained 

 an average of 10 producers each 

 from other dealers who had switched 

 to tanks. 



2. Plans lor Bulk Assembly 



Conversion costs for most dealers 

 would include new ramping, washing, 

 and storage facilities. There were 

 many dealers giving serious consider- 

 ation to a change-over to bulk assem- 

 bly. Others were resisting the change- 

 over for reasons peculiar to their 

 own operations. A third of the deal- 

 ers were under some form of pressure 

 to change and a fourth of those still 

 using cans were planning or were 

 in process of change. The pressure is 

 created by competitors in the area 

 or by producer requests. If a dealer 

 should shift to tank assembly and 

 pick up milk from farms adjacent to 

 those selling in cans, the competitive 

 position of producers is changed. The 

 pressures on dealers reflect these in- 

 fluences. 



Obstacles cited by dealers against 

 shifting to bulk assembly were re- 

 lated both to cost and to the size 

 of their producers. The following dis- 

 tribution of reasons for not shifting 

 was given. 



26 



