UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 558 



Contribution from the Office of Markets and Rural 

 Organization 



CHARLES J. BRAND, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



jjv^r^i. 



July 28, 1917 



MARKETING GRAIN AT COUNTRY POINTS. 



By Geokge Livingston and K. B. Seeds, 

 Specialists in Grain Marketing. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Function of the country elevator 2 



Methods of purchase 6 



Methods sf sale 11 



Place of saje 12 



Price paid to the producer 16 



Transient and permanent "scoop-shovelers". 21 



Contracting with farmers for future delivery . 23 



Storing grain for farmers 25 



Farm storage 27 



Handling grain for farmers 29 



Advantage of growing uniform varieties 30 



Farm and elevator scales 31 



Supply of elevators 33 



Cost of operating a country elevator 34 



Hazards of the country elevator business 37 



Farmers ' cooperative associations 41 



Conclusions 42 



INTRODUCTION. 



The need for definite knowledge of methods and costs of marketing 

 grain at country points has led the Department of Agriculture, 

 through the Office of Markets and Rural Organization, to undertake 

 a comprehensive study of the subject. The need for such informa- 

 tion has found expression chiefly from three sources: (1) The grain 

 trade of the Middle West, both at country points and at central 

 markets, as well as the farmers of this section; (2) producers and 

 merchants located in the cotton belt, in some parts of which a grain 

 surplus has existed for the first time during the last two years, the 

 successful marketing of which is handicapped by inadequate handling 

 facilities; (3) producers and dealers of the Pacific slope, where the 

 process of transition from the present method of handling grain in 

 bags to the more modern and efficient bulk system, used in the 

 Middle West, is demanding serious consideration. 



In order to contribute toward the information needed a general 

 survey of the grain-handling methods in vogue in the surplus- 



Note. — This bulletin should be of interest to producers, shippers, dealers, and consumers of grain 

 .and grain products throughout the United States. 

 93179° — Bull. 558 — 17— — 1 



