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MARKETING MARGINS FOR FRUITS AND VEGETABLES yf 
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Marketing margins for fresh fruits and vegetables, together with : 
; retail and grower prices, were higher 
increased 4 percent; 
>; keting margins 
; 8 percent higher; 
3 pencent. 
in 1960 than in 1959. Mar- 
retail prices averaged about : 
and prices received by growers were up about 15 : 
Much of the increase at both grower and retail levels re- ;_ 
; sulted from higher prices for apples, oranges, and potatoes. 
Retail ; 
3; prices of processed products declined 4 percent, reflecting mainly : 
; reductions 
; the same in both years. 
a 
in returns to growers. 
Marketing charges were about ; 
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Fresh Fruits and Vegetables 
The retail cost of the fresh fruits inthe 
family market basket increased to an 
annual rate of $144 in 1960 from $133 in 
1959 (table 19). 2/ About two-thirds of 
this increase was reflected in higher 
prices received by farmers and one-third 
in higher marketing charges. Increases 
in 1960 followed decreases in 1959. The 
farmer’s share of the retail cost of fresh 
fruits and vegetables increased to 37 per- 
cent in 1960, up from 34 percent in 1959. 
Sharp price increases in potatoes, 
apples, and oranges at both farm and 
retail levels accounted for much of the 
increase in the retail cost and farm 
value of the fresh fruits and vegetables 
in the market basket. The retail price 
of potatoes jumped from an average of 
63.3 cents per 10 pounds in 1959 to 
71.7 cents in 1960; the farm value rose 
from 19.2 cents to 24.5 cents, and the 
marketing margin from 44.1 cents to 
47.2 cents. Stocks of potatoes on Jan- 
uary 1, 1960, were 10 percent smaller 
than a year earlier as a result of a 
smaller late potato crop in 1959 than 
in 1958. Further, the production of pota- 
toes for harvest during the winter months 
was much smaller in 1960 than in 1959 
because of reduced acreage and severe 
damage by cold weather. Prices received 
by farmers were higher in 1960 than 
in 1959 in each month except June, parti- 
cularly in the early months of the year, 
although the spring, summer, and fall 
crops were larger in 1960 than in 1959. 
For the quantity of apples equivalent to 
a pound at retail, farmers received an 
average of 5.4 cents in 1960, compared 
with 4.0 cents in 1959. The gain at the 
retail level was larger, since the farm- 
retail spread increased from 10.2 cents 
to 10.8 cents. Stocks of apples were 
lighter on January 1, 1960, than a year 
earlier, and the 1960 crop was 5 percent 
smaller than average and 13 percent 
smaller than the 1959 production. 
In the first half of 1960, grower prices 
for Florida oranges were lower, Califor- 
nia oranges higher, than for the same 
period a year earlier. United States ayer- 
age prices of fresh oranges bothat grower 
and retail levels were higher in most 
months of 1960 than a year earlier. The 
annual average retail price rose from 
66.4 cents a dozen, in 1959 to 75.6 cents 
Ly Prepared by Victor V. Bowman, agricultural economist, Marketing Economics 
Research Division, Agricultural Marketing Service. 
2/ The family market basket contains the average quantities of fruits, vegetables, 
and other domestically produced farm food products bought by the typical urban wage- 
earner or clerical-worker family in 1952, The farm value of a food in the market 
basket is 
the payment the farmer receives for its farm product equivalent. The 
marketing margin or spread between the retail cost and farm value is the charge for 
marketing services. 
