be maintained. These conditions are not easily obtained in public ware- 

 houses which usually store many different types of commodities. In 

 addition, the recently developed "controlled atmosphere storage," which 

 involves sealing off rooms and controlling the oxygen content of the air 

 therein, is not yet widely available in public warehouses. On the eco- 

 nomic side, growers are finding it advantageous to own and operate 

 their own cold storage facilities for two primary reasons: (1) The con- 

 struction of a cold storage warehouse offers employment opportunities 

 for farm workers during slack seasons, and (2) The location of storage 

 facilities on the farm reduces the marketing costs in terms of hauling 

 costs and quality loss. 



Regional Cold Storage Facilities 



Table 8 shows that the Mountain and Pacific areas have over 55 per 

 cent of the total storage space but produce only 34 percent of the total 

 crop. These areas, however, during the period 1957 to 1960 marketed 

 72 percent of their total crop in fresh form. These areas are also prone 

 to greater use of private storage facilities. Apple production on these 

 specialized farms is apparently important enough to warrant the build- 

 ing of cold storage facilities for the exclusive purpose of storing apples. 



Table 8. Refrigerated Apple Storage Facilities by Regions, 

 United States, October 1, 1959 



Source: "Capacity of Refrigerated Warehouses in the United States, October 1, 

 1959" U.S.D.A. Agricultural Marketing Service Co. St. 2 (60), October, 1960. 



* Not shown to avoid disclosure of individual plant reports, but amounts are not 

 large. 



Moving Apples Out of Cold Storage 



A general picture of the movement of apples out of cold storage dur- 

 ing the marketing season shows a fairly steady rate of about 20 percent 

 of the total quantity stored per month until April 1.^" Although the 

 quantity of apples moving out each month varies from year to year, de- 



10 December 1 holdings are considered to be the total. 



19 



