150 Pecan-Growing 



marketing is standardization of the commodity. This is merely 

 good business. The farmer is frequently criticized for lack of 

 attention to the uniformity and quality of his products. As an 

 individual he is powerless to remedy this weakness both from 

 lack of time and because his production is too limited to war- 

 rant dividing into grades. However, if he is a member of a 

 cooperative association, the marketing experts set a standard 

 that w^ill appeal to the buying public. AVhen the farmer's 

 produce is brought to the w^arehouse of the association, it is 

 graded to the standard by experts generally, in the case of 

 pecans, into first grade, second grade and culls. These sorts 

 are then expertly packed and attractively labelled. The first 

 grades are pooled or mingled with those of the other members 

 and put on the market. \Yhen the association is large, espe- 

 cially when it controls a large percentage of the commodity 

 on the market, the first grade pool will be of sufficient quan- 

 tity to attract attention and command a higher price. The 

 second grades go through the same process of pooling and 

 marketing. The culls are also pooled and in the case of 

 pecans are sent to the crackeries, shelled, and sold for their 

 meats. The prices paid in the various markets during 

 the season for the first grade produce are pooled and the 

 grower receives the average. The same method of pooling 

 prices takes place in the other grades. The farmer's share of 

 each pool is determined by the proportion of his product to 

 the total amount. 



The greatest advantage in standardizing a commodity is 

 the ease with which it can be advertised. Advertising any 

 except carefully graded products of uniform quality would 

 not show much results. Special trade names and trade- 

 marked brands soon become widely known and facilitate the 



