10 BULLETIN 1414, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 



All marketing agencies suffer from unorganized competition. The 

 man who sells without a knowledge of market conditions, who be- 

 cause of lack of knowledge ships to markets already overcrowded, 

 or who puts an unstandardized, poorly packed product on the mar- 

 ket, has a demoralizing effect on the market and nullifies to a greater 

 or less degree the efforts of reliable, informed shippers. From the 

 point of view of market stabilization, therefore, it may not be essen- 

 tial that an association should control a large percentage of the ship- 

 ments of a certain commodity, but it is important that it should 

 be in the hands of reliable well-informed organizations or individuals. 



Stabilization of the market is occasionally used to imply an ad- 

 vance in prices or the maintenance of a high level of prices. The 

 ideas behind such a use of the phrase range all the way from price 

 fixing by the growers to the maintenance of a favorable price by 

 offering better goods and better services. The expectation that a 

 fruit or vegetable association can increase the price received for its 

 members' products by withholding all or a portion from the market, 

 or by refusing to sell except at a predetermined price, is generally 

 doomed to disappointment. With a crop of a certain size to mar- 

 ket under certain economic conditions, the associations can do no 

 more than obtain the best price that the market demand warrants 

 and render this service to their members at an economical figure. 

 They may grade and pack the products in such a way that the co- 

 operative brands are worth more than common stock, and they 

 may stimulate demand by advertising and judicious distribution, 

 but the basic price will be determined by supply and demand, and 

 the association's quotations must be in line with this price. 



TOO MANY VARIETIES 



The second difficulty confronting cooperative managers is a multi- 

 plicity of little-known and undesirable varieties. The problem of 

 ? odd varieties " is common among deciduous fruit organizations and 

 some vegetable associations. The apple growers, particularly, at- 

 tempt to place on the market many varieties which are little known 

 or which have distinct marketing defects. Pomological societies and 

 educational institutions have encouraged in the past the introduction 

 and trial by growers of new, often untested varieties, and are partly 

 responsible for this situation. 



Odd varieties make the task of the cooperative manager difficult 

 and reduce returns to growers. First, the cost of packing, selling, 

 and record keeping is made more expensive when several varieties 

 must be handled. Secondly, these comparatively unknown varieties 

 sell at lower prices than standard varieties. The lower price may 

 not be due to inferior quality but to the fact that the variety is 

 unknown or reaches the market in such small quantities that no spe- 

 cial preference has been created for it. Again, odd varieties are 

 generally shipped in mixed cars — that is, the quantity of each variety 

 available is so small that several must be combined to make a ship- 

 ment. Such a shipment is not desirable to the wholesale trade and 

 must be sold at a discount. 



The problem is primarily a question of management in produc- 

 tion. The cooperative associations are performing a service by 



