SECONDARY MILK MARKETS, 1930-1932 



19 



a highly competitive market. Nevertheless a number of producers consider them- 

 selves qualified for the undertaking, as is demonstrated by the number of applica- 

 tions for distributing licenses filed with the milk inspectors in the past two years 

 in all three markets. 



Table l.'i. Cost of Milk Distribution" per Quart, Exclusive of Labor, 

 FOR 57 Producer-Distributors in 1931-32 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 



1. \\'ith modern facilities in transportation and increased competition from 

 outside areas, the secondary milk markets in Massachusetts are no longer able 

 to maintain their independence from the conditions in the larger markets of 

 the state. 



2. In a period of business depression and prevailing unemployment, the dis- 

 organization of small milk markets results both from the tendency of more 

 producers to enter the distribution field and from the pressure of outside milk. 



3. An attempt to maintain a stable price level independently of the general 

 market trend or to limit the influx of outside milk by restrictions is not likely to 

 be successful, as it results either in the curtailment of sales of milk as in Attle- 

 boro, or in the shifting of an additional supply of milk to the local market by 

 distributors operating in several markets, as in Gardner. 



4. The average net price obtained by producers for their milk in the summer 

 of 1932 was 4.1 cents a quart in Gardner area, 6 cents in Attleboro, and 4.8 cents 

 in Newburyport. The highest percentage spread between these prices and pre- 

 vailing retail prices was in Gardner and the lowest in Newburyport. 



5. Not including labor, the average cost of distributing milk for producer- 

 distributors was 1.3 cents a quart. 



6. While under normal conditions the small producers would have found it 

 unprofitable to distribute their milk, the excess of labor on the farms, the lack 

 of other income, and the low milk prices during recent years have made it attrac- 

 tive to a good many of them to get some return for their product over what they 

 would have been paid by the dealer. 



7. For the maintenance of stability in a small market during the period of 

 depression it is a good policy for local dealers to bring the margin of spread between 

 the retail price of milk and that paid to producers to a point which will prevent 

 too many producers from crowding into the distributing field. 



