THE WORCESTER MILK MARKET 5 



The Worcester market is directly related to the Boston market in atjeast 

 three respects. (1) Milk production for Worcester from territory east of the 

 city was practically confined to three nearby towns. ^ (2) The Boston market is 

 large and near enough to the entire Worcester supply area to enable some Worces- 

 ter producers to compete occasionally in that market. (3) Two of the largest 

 milk-distributing concerns in New England with their major business operations 

 in Boston operate branch plants in Worcester. 



The study of secondary milk market supplies in 1932 by the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Experiment Station^ recognized 29 such markets.^ The Worcester 

 supply area was influenced by the size and location of 10 of these other secondary 

 markets, all of which except Springfield were much smaller markets. 



Figure 2. Location of 29 Secondary Milk Markets and Worcester Milkshed. 1935, 



The smaller markets bordering Worcester formed the links of an imaginary 

 chain describing a semi-circle east of the city and acted collectively as a natural 

 boundary of the Worcester milkshed. Figure 2 indicates that the supply area 

 for the city did not extend far enough to include any of these smaller markets, 

 although the outer edges of the milksheds overlapped somewhat, making pos- 

 sible some producer choice between markets. A large part of the milk business 

 of these markets was of the producer-distributor type. Except for Fitchburg, 

 and possibly Gardner and Framingham, these towns were not large enough to 

 enable dealers buying from wholesale producers to exert much influence on the 

 Worcester market. Thirteen of the 56 mi!k dealers' selling in Worcester in 1935 

 were located outside of the city in surrounding towns. Of these 13, two were in 

 Boylston and two in West Boylston. Their location enabled them to be potential, 

 if not actual, competitors in the Clinton market. The activities of a Webster 

 dealer in Worcester accounted for the small amount of Connecticut milk that 

 was sold in Worcester. 



^See figure 1. 



^Lindsey, A. H., Sources of Milk Supply in Twenty-nine Secondary Markets, Mimeographed 

 report, Mass. Agr. Exp. Sta., March 1934. 

 'See figure 2. 

 ^Does not include producer-dealers and producer-distributors. 



