AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF THE PRODUCTION OF CANNING CROPS n 



certain conditions as to quality, and other terms of sale, are specified 

 in the contract. 



The canners in turn usually sell the canned goods, for delivery when they 

 are packed, to wholesale grocers or other distributors. These are known 

 as " futures." The quantity of " futures " of a given product which a 

 canner sells is usually a certain proportion of a normal yield on the acreage 

 for which he has contracted. 



In other sections of the country, particularly in Maryland and Delaware, 

 a considerable acreage of tomatoes not under contract is grown. In 

 every community in these sections there are several buyers of tomatoes, 

 and in the fall a competitive price is established. In the vicinity of 

 Rochester and Buffalo in New York, there are market-gardening sections 

 in which tomatoes are grown for the city markets. Some of these tomatoes 

 may be sold to canners .when the market conditions are not good. Such 

 tomatoes, being surplus product from market gardens, can be sold at a 

 lower price than tomatoes grown under contract, all of which have to be 

 sold to a factory at a fixed price. 



The part of their supply of vegetables which the companies grow on 

 their own farms is, of course, not contracted for. Beans are the principal 

 crop so grown. Farmers ordinarily do not have enough hired labor to 

 grow and harvest this crop satisfactorily. The canning companies that 

 raise beans employ a gang of laborers for hoeing and picking. When 

 beans are grown under contract, the companies usually furnish the 

 pickers. 



Beets are usually not contracted for but are bought when they are ready 

 to harvest. The price depends on the proportion of the various-sized 

 beets. The greater the proportion of small-sized beets, the more they 

 are worth for canning. Cabbage may be contracted for or bought at the 

 market price in the fall. Spinach, unless grown on the canner 's own 

 farm, is usually bought from truck growers at the prevailing market 

 price. 



The local monopoly which the factory usually has makes it practically 

 necessary that the price be set before the crop is planted, or at least that 

 the method of arriving at a price be defined. There are advantages and 

 disadvantages to the farmer in this method of sale. He is sure of the price, 

 but he is in no way certain of the total returns he will receive. The 

 profitable years, in the case of contract crops, are years when yields are 

 good. When the yields of crops produced for the open market, such as 

 cabbage and potatoes, are high, low prices usually prevail, but in years 

 of low yields there is usually a compensating increase in the price. There 

 is no such increase in the price of contract crops when the yields are low, 

 and therefore such years are very unprofitable. 



In order to secure a constant supply of any product, the price must 

 be high enough to give to a sufficient number of producers returns compa- 

 rable with what they may expect from other crops that work in equally 

 well with their system of farming. Probably the return could be slightly 

 less in the case of a crop the price of which is guaranteed than in the case 

 of crops grown without a price guaranteed, because the uncertainties of 

 price are eliminated. If data were available on the average costs and 



