MARKETING AGREEMENTS 



and ORDERS 

 for FRUITS and VEGETABLES 



PURPOSE 



Marketing agreements and orders are designed to improve 

 returns to growers through orderly marketing. They are 

 self-help programs, through which fruit and vegetable growers 

 can work together to solve marketing problems that they 

 cannot solve individually. 



Under a marketing agreement and order program an in- 

 dustry can regulate the handling and marketing of its crop. 

 It can prevent erratic flow of its product to market, prevent 

 low-quality produce from depressing prices, standardize con- 

 tainers, or attack other marketing problems that may trouble 

 it. 



In many ways marketing agreement and order programs 

 are an extension of the cooperative marketing principle. The 

 idea underlying these programs dates from farmers 1 first 

 cooperative efforts to improve the quality of marketings and 

 balance shipments with market demand. 



Marketing agreement and order programs are authorized 

 under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937. 

 They can regulate the handling of commodities in interstate 

 or foreign commerce- -and this includes commodities that 

 do not cross State lines if they burden, obstruct, or affect 

 interstate commerce. 



The Act itself does not impose regulations over the market- 

 ing of any agricultural commodity. It merely provides the 

 authority under which an industry can develop regulations to 

 fit its own situation and solve its own marketing problems. 



The Secretary of Agriculture is responsible for adminis- 

 tering these programs, and he makes the final decision on 

 all marketing agreement and order actions. His decisions, 

 though, are based on the recommendations which come from 

 the industry. 



