April. 1921. SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. . 173 



Marketing Farm Produce 



Deau F. M. CLEMENT, University of B. C, \'aiieouver. 



The problem of the marketing of farm produce dif- ed to the self-sufficing system mentioned previously 

 fers from the problems of production in that it is en- we are to-day living under the commercial svstem 

 tirely in the abstract. It is something that you cannot Food supplies are obtained from all parts of the world 

 see or feel; but at the same time must be understood We who have produce to sell are in competition in 

 and visualized. Without a more efficient marketing world's markets. 



system it is doubtful if from the point of view of the As far as agricultural products are concerned it is 



farming coiumunity increased production is going to the purpose of the farmer producer to keep filled one 

 increase the total value of farm products to any great large imagiiuiry store-house with produce that the 



consuming public demands. If this store-house is fill- 

 ed to over-flowing, prices fall; if it is underfilled, 

 prices rise very rapidly. Tiie farmer, or his market- 

 ing agent has to be in a position to judge the probable 

 quantities of any product the consumers will demand 

 in given time. 



Some time ago there appeared in "The Country 

 Gentleman"' an illustration which emphasizes very 

 clearly the main point it is desired to emphasize. The 

 dlustration showed three squares side by side, the 

 one at the left, white in colour, representing the pro- 

 ducer; the one at the right, white in colour, represent- 

 ing the consumer; the centre st|uare was blackened, 

 and under the illustration was asked the question' 

 ■'What happens in between?" 



Lot us take the marketing of apples as an illustra- 

 tion. The grower assembles his fruit at a packing 

 house. This is the first step in marketing, and is the 

 first marketing service which someone has to pay for. 

 The packing-house grades, packs and loads. These 

 are the next three marketing services which someone 

 has to pay for. Someone must finance the undertak- 

 ing, and someone must store a certain i)ortion of the 

 produce. These are the next two marketing .services 

 that must be rendered. Fiiuilly the ajjples must be 

 sold; this is another 



degree. 



It cannot be said that an.v large bod.v of people are 

 all consumers, and another large Ixid.v of people all 

 producers. We ma.v be producers of strawberries, 

 wheat, cattle or some other product, and at tiie same 

 time we are consumei's of sugar, prunes, or a number 

 of other products. We are also consumers of manu- 

 factured articles such as boots, shoes and clothing. 

 We all have something to sell, whether it be produce 

 or labor and we all must bu.\' something. We live by 

 exchange of produce. 



The distinction between the two classes — consumers 

 and producers — is in the abstract. When yon have 

 something to sell .vou immediatel.v adapt an attitude 

 of mind that is such that .vou will obtain as great a 

 price as the consumer is preiJared to pny. On the 

 other hand as soon as it is necessar\' for you to make 

 a purchase your attitude of mind changes completely, 

 and you wish to purchase the article at as low a price 

 as possible. The distinction between producers and 

 consumers is largel.v one of mental attitude. 



If you can imagine a pioneer farm fift^' or sixty 

 years ago in some part of Ontario, we will find that 

 to a very large degree the owner produced sheep from 

 which he obtained the wool to make clothes for himself 

 and family. He possibly also built his own house. If 

 he had bacon to eat, it was prepared from pigs i-aised 



marketing service. If shipped in 

 quantities the cars nuiy be sold bv a broker, he in turn 

 on his own farm. If he had bread and butter, they distributing to a wholesaler, who in turn distributes 

 probably were produced on the home farm. The farm- through a .iobber(not alwavs) to a retailer— the re- 

 er, to a large degree, was a self-sufficing individual, tailer selling to the consumer. Each step is a market- 

 ing service that someone has to pay for. The man 

 who performs the service is considered a middle-man. 

 and he is entitled to a fair remuneration for the .ser- 

 vice he renders. 



Under the commercial s.xstcm of to-da.v. these services 

 are demanded by the selling and by the consuming 

 public. Criticism of the middle-man is sometimes jus^ 

 tified: but we should first consider whether or not he 

 is rendering a marketing service, and then direct the 

 criticism; not at the indivdual, but at the t.vpe of .ser- 

 vice he may be rendering. The service is essential. 



Three marketing systems are recognized at the pre- 

 sent time : 



(1) The direct method. Under this s\-stem the pro- 

 ducer of a certain article sells direct to the consumer 

 of that article. It may be on an open city market, or 

 it may be by I\Iail Order. At any rate the two— pro- 

 ducer and consumer — must come in direct contact 

 Vancouver. The bread, from which the toast was either personally or by letter or telegraph, 

 made, was possibly made from flour produced in either A few producers, particularlv of "certain vegetables 

 Saskatchewan or Alberta and milled in Vancouver or and small fruits, are still of" the opinion that more 

 elsewhere. The butter may have come from New Zea- money is to be made by marketing in this manner than 

 land or Alberta. With the exception of possibly the by selling through tiie local a.ssociations. Undoubt- 

 eggs, milk and fish no other article on the menu was edly a few men have obtained verv fair returns for 

 produced in or near the City of Vancouver. " their produce in this manner; but it is a physical im- 



I have gone to the two opposite extremes. Compar- imssilnlity to handle any great quantit.v— certainlv 



The communities also were largel.v self-sufficing. They 

 produced within their own limits praeticallv every- 

 thing the,\' required. A small auK init of mone.v was all 

 tiuit was necessary to purcha.se outside produce, aiul verv 

 little was sold outside of the eommtiiiitv. 



Let us go to the opposite extreme. Imagine for a 

 moment that we are having breakfast in the Hotel A'an- 

 couver. The first items on the menu will likel.v be a 

 choice between grai>e-fruit, oranges, or some other 

 fruit. The point is how did we obtain the grape- 

 fruit? Someone in Florida, California, or elsewhere 

 produced it. It did not come to us b.v Parcel Post. or 

 by L.C.L shipment. It came to us in a carload of 

 grape-fruit, packed in boxes of equal size ; all grape- 

 fruit in the boxes were of the sanu^ size: it eame to us 

 in a carload as a standardized article. The bacon that 

 is served ver,v likely was produced either in Sakat- 

 chewan or Alberta, and cured either in Calgarv or 



