16 
Relative Importance 
Nationally, the extent to which cooperatives are involved in fresh fruit 
and vegetable marketing operations varies considerably--both among pro- 
ducts and between regions of the country in which specific products are 
grown. 
Fruits.--Cooperatives played a prominent role in marketing fresh citrus 
fruit in 1964-65 (appendix table 9). They accounted for 56 percent of 
the fresh orange sales of the Nation. Florida and California are the 
principal suppliers of this fruit, and there is a substantial difference 
in the degree of cooperative endeavor in the two States. Cooperatives 
marketed over three-fourths of the California crop but less than one-third 
of Florida orange production. Orange growers in Texas made only limited 
use of cooperatives, marketing only 7 percent of this volume through such 
associations. Marketing cooperatives in 1964-65 handled about a third 
of the fresh grapefruit production. Cooperatives were of much less 
relative importance for this crop than for oranges in California. In 
Florida, the principal grapefruit producing State, cooperatives moved 
about a third of the grapefruit crop to market. 
Apples are produced in substantial quantities in several regions of the 
U.S., with major production concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. 
‘In this region, cooperatives handled 47 percent of the crop. Coopera- 
tives marketed comparatively minor shares of the apple crop in other 
regions. 
About 60 percent of the reported United States sales of fresh pears 
passed through the hands of pear marketing cooperatives. As in the 
case of apples, a large part of the cooperative sales were centered in 
the Pacific region, with Celifornia the major supplier. 
Cherries are largely produced in the Pacific States and much of the 
cooperative marketing activity is similarly located there. 
Cooperatives are of minor importance in marketing fresh peaches-- 
both nationally and in all the regions where they are grown for the 
fresh market. 
Vegetables.--In general, cooperatives are less important as first mar- 
keting firms for maja vegetable crops than for important fruit crops. 
This is true both in terms of the share of the national and regional 
supplies of vegetable crops handled by marketing cooperatives (appen- 
dix table 10). 
Cooperatives serve growers in all the important white potato producing 
states. Only in the South Atlantic region, however, do cooperatives 
handle a substantial share of the crop. These associations provide a 
wide range of services such as grading, packing, storing, and selling. 
Cooperatives replying to the survey reported handling about 10 percent 


