SUMMARY 



A total of 105 egg marketing firms in five New England states were 

 surveyed to obtain information on marketing methods and other aspects 

 of egg marketing. Data refer chiefly to 1965. Approximately one-half of 

 the firms interviewed were primarily producers who also conducted 

 marketing operations in their businesses. The next largest grouping 

 was termed packers and next in order of importance was wholesalers. 

 The miscellaneous category, which included assemblers, packers, break- 

 ers and truckers, constituted the smallest group in the survey. 



Half of the firms interviewed had an individual proprietorship 

 ownership structure. Thirty firms were under corporate ownership, 

 fifteen were partnerships and seven were incorporated as cooperatives. 

 The large proportion of individual proprietorships was a reflection of the 

 large number of producer-marketers interviewed in the survey. Corp- 

 orate structures were found to be most common among wholesalers and 

 packers. 



The largest firms, in terms of volume, were found in Connecticut 

 and the smallest were in Vermont. More than half the firms in the sur- 

 vey had annual volumes between 5000 and 50,000 cases of eggs and 

 only twenty firms (including the producer group) had annual volumes 

 of less than 5000 cases. In the packer group, twenty of the twenty-eight 

 firms had volumes greater than 50,000 cases annually. 



The fifty-five firms in the producer group handled 28 percent of the 

 total volume covered by the firms surveyed. The packer group ( twenty- 

 eight firms) accounted for nearly 60 percent of the volume covered by 

 the survey. Although the firms in the survey handled nearly half the 

 eggs estimated to be consumed in New England in 1965 (4 million out 

 of 8.6 million cases), there was some double counting. The actual cover- 

 age of the study was probably somewhere between one-third and one- 

 half of 1965 New England egg consumption. 



Almost half of the eggs handled by firms in the survey originated 

 in Maine. Each of the four types of firms obtained the largest propor- 

 tion of their supplies from this state. Of some interest was the fact that 

 only 2 percent of the egg handled by these firms originated from sources 

 outside the New England states. 



Approximately 60 percent of the eggs handled by the marketing 

 firms were purchased from producers and another 27 percent came from 

 flocks owned by the marketing firms. In the aggregate, more than three- 

 fourths of the eggs purchased from producers had some processing func- 

 tion performed by the producer, although relatively few were completely 

 processed and cartoned. 



Most firms used the Boston Herald market quotation as their base 

 I nice for producer payments. The price paid was usually given as t In- 

 top or middle of this base while a few firms gave premiums over the 

 quotation (usually for some degree of producer-processing). 



Most agreements between marketing firms and producer were verbal 

 and contained provisions relative to price, quality and proportion of 

 total production. 



