IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION 9 



joining a housewives' league or patronizing some distant 

 public market. Improvements in retail distribution will 

 undoubtedly be worked out, but they must come through 

 the organized efifort of consumers expressing itself through 

 voluntary associations and through political organizations 

 which have as their purpose the assumption by cities of 

 control of the broader aspects of the final stages of food 

 distribution, such as minimum standards of quality, honest 

 weights, adequate and convenient terminal facilities, un- 

 manipulated public auctions and licensed commission mer- 

 chants. , 



Business methods for farmers are essential if agricul- 

 tural producers are to retain their relative position in our 

 broader national economy. Business methods imply spe- 

 cialization of function. The farmer who best understands 

 the technical processes for raising potatoes or wheat may 

 be a poor salesman. His lack of bargaining ability is prac- 

 tically- always combined with profound ignorance of the 

 general market situation. All he ordinarily knows about 

 what price to demand for his product is gained from those 

 who are offering to buy. He is innocent of adequate knowl- 

 edge of what is going on in competing areas of production 

 all over the world. His ideas of the most advantageous 

 times for offering his product are vague. In short, the 

 farmer's marketing perspective is necessarily local, while 

 marketing efficiency requires specialized skill, extensive in- 

 formation and a perspective international in scope. 



Business methods also imply the ability to combine with 

 others for attaining desirable ends, impossible of realiza- 

 tion by any individual. The farmer by his own efforts is 

 not able to obtain sufficient market information for the 

 intelligent disposal of his crops. Nor could he advan- 

 tageously use such information even if it were available. 

 But a group of farmers can afford to develop an elaborate 



