118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



found most desirable by the Office of Markets and Rural Organ- 

 ization. The field agent in marketing is kept in close touch 

 with the activities of our office, so that the investigations made 

 through the numerous projects in the office are available to 

 him. Whenever it is possible we are confining the activities in 

 the several States to particular lines, which, in nearly all cases, 

 are mentioned specifically in the Memorandum of Understand- 

 ing entered into between the Office of Markets and Rural Or- 

 ganization and the college or university, as referred to before. 

 For example, the field agent in marketing in Kentucky is de- 

 voting his time to investigations, principally in fruit, vegetables, 

 poultry, dairy, tobacco and wool products; in Louisiana he is 

 devoting most of his time to live stock and live-stock products; 

 in Virginia an exhaustive survey of the peanut industry is being 

 made; in Vermont a special study is being made of the market- 

 ing of veal and of maple products; the field agent in marketing 

 in Minnesota is devoting most of his time to market business 

 practice, in assisting the farmers' organizations in establishing 

 uniform accounting systems and other modern business methods, 

 and so on. 



This is but a brief sketch of what is being done in connec- 

 tion with certain phases of this great problem. 



It is true, as has been reiterated so often of late, that produc- 

 tion has received the major portion of the department's energy 

 up to the present time. However, this situation is changing, 

 and the study of distribution problems is being emphasized. 

 Some conceive of the existence of a single national problem in 

 the distribution and marketing of farm products. No such 

 single problem exists. Each sectjon has its problem, and it may 

 be different from that of almost every other section. Each 

 product within a section likewise presents its own peculiar 

 problems and difficulties. The problem of the cantaloupe 

 grower of the Imperial valley is one thing; the problem of the 

 barley or alfalfa grower of the same valley is a totally different 

 one. The problems of the potato grower of Maine, the straw- 

 berry grower of Louisiana, the orange grower of California, the 

 apple producer of Washington and Oregon,' and the onion 

 grower of Texas or of Massachusetts have just as many points 

 of dissimilarity as they have of similarity. 



