30 New Hampshire Experiment Station [Bulletin 332 



Information on the enforcement of sanitary regulations is difficult 

 to obtain but studies made about 1937' indicated that Boston require- 

 ments did not differ greatly from those of Manchester, and that enforce- 

 ment policies were similar. 



Alarket Responses of Producers in Haverhill, New Hmnpshire 



The problem of determining producers' market response to price is 

 vastly complicated by two sets of circumstances. First, many factors such 

 as personal likes and dislikes, confidence in financial soundness of dealers 

 and accuracy of weight and test of milk, and so forth, cannot be evaluated 

 exactly. Second, in considering the price to which producers have re- 

 sponded, the problem is difficult enough when the prices paid are prices 

 offered to all sellers, but when these prices are restricted to certain pro- 

 ducers, the evaluation of producers' response becomes very complex 

 indeed. 



Both these sets of circumstances have been important in Haverhill 

 and are taken into account in the following analysis. 



Each producer's market in the spring of 1939 is shown in figure 10. 

 This shows the manner in which the two milksheds intermingle, a charac- 

 teristic common to most parts of the state, and one dwelt upon in an 

 earlier report in this series. In this chart, symbols have been used in such 

 a way as not only to show the market to which shipment was being made 

 at the end of the period, but also the number of times producers have 

 changed from one market to the other in the eight years under study. 



The most striking thing about this area is the extremely small number 

 ot persons who had changed markets. In general, the milksheds are divid- 

 ed in such a way that most producers ship, to the nearest plant, though 

 this is by no means true of everybody. Perhaps one reason for this situa- 

 tion is that a large number of producers in the area haul their own milk, 

 consequently distance from market has a direct influence, often lacking 

 when commercial truck routes charge a flat rate to all shippers. 



Of a total of 102 producers, 90 did not change markets during the 

 period of study and eight more changed only once. Only four producers 

 made more than one shift. (These statements refer to shifts between the 

 two markets, Boston and Manchester, and do not take into account shifts 

 between individual handlers in the same market.) 



The net change in the proportion of Haverhill producers shipping 

 to Aianchester is shown in figure 1 1 . The absolute level of this percentage 

 figure means little, as the limits of the area included are arbitrary and 

 changing of the area would, of course, change the percentage. The rela- 

 tive change in per cent is the significant thing, and over the whole period 

 this amounts to only three per cent or a change from 48 per cent to 51 

 per cent. This percentage figure has been placed on the same chart in 



i"Milk Inspection in New England," Corbett, R. B., and Phucas, A. B., New England Research 



Council. iy.!7. 



"Laws and Regulations Governing the Production of Grade B Milk in New England, Brassier, 

 R. G. Jr., New England Research Council, 1938. 



"Sanitary Laws and Regulations Governing the Productian and Distribution of Dairy Products for 



Consumption within New Hampshire," MacLeod, Alan, New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment 



Station, 1937. 



