66 



ANNUAL REPORT 1919 AND 1920 



MARKETING AVOCADOS 



A. F. YAGGY, SANTA BARBARA. CALIF. 



Mr. PresidenU Ladies and Gentlemen: 



At a time like this when sugar jumps $5 a hundred over night and food 

 staples sell at the price of luxuries, it is no wonder that good sized avocados 

 have retailed as high as $2 each. It is no wonder, either, that certain of our 

 members express the opinion that at the present time the Association need not 

 seriously consider the question of marketing, as the trade is calling for avocados 

 faster than they can supply them. 



In former discussions of marketing the grim specter Overproduction haunted 

 the meetings, but as the years roll by the good angel. Increased Demand, has 

 proven more than a match for him, and from the way prices have risen we can 

 all easily beheve that it is perfectly possible to send a sky-rocket to the moon. 

 Just when this bubble of wild extravagance will burst and things will settle down 

 to something like real values, no one can say, but whether that time comes in one 

 year or five we can be reasonably sure that things classified as luxuries, such as 

 fruit selling at $2 a pound, will be the first to go begging. In the meantime, 

 many small plantings and a few larger ones are getting to the productive stage, 

 and nursery stock is in great demand. 



Of course the law of supply and demand will regulate the price, as has 

 been pointed out at every meeting of the Association. We know that the supply 

 is bound to increase rapidly and we are all so imbued with the great virtues of this 

 fruit that we believe the public will share our enthusiasm and keep shouting for 

 more, regardless of price. Nevertheless unless we make sure that the demand 

 keeps pace with the supply we shall doubtless arrive at the same unpleasant situ- 

 ation that the orange industry did. Read what Mr. Powell, manager of the 

 California Fruit Growers Exchange said of that time: 



**The rapidly increasing crop was left in the hands of individual 

 buyers, the market collapsed because the buyers could not take a risk 

 when the crop was large and the distribution not co-ordinated. The 

 industry's problem was met only when the producers systematized the 

 distribution of their own fruit, eliminated speculation from its purchase 

 and distribution, established their own sales offices, and sold their 

 products to the wholesale trade in the territory where the fruit was to 

 be consumed, * * * The average jobbers' margin on oranges is now less 

 than 10% of the selling price — retailers' about 25%. These trade 

 margins are the lowest of those on any of the fruit crops." 



A recent book by a learned man on Organized Methods of Marketing 

 California Horticultural Products says this. "The permanence of horticultural 

 industries depends upon the successful marketing of the products." He says 

 further: "Growers' Co-operative Marketing organizations are capable of: 



Hence it would appear that to make a successful industry of growing avo- 

 cados we must have, sooner or later, a marketing organization, and to quote again 



"1. 

 "2. 

 "3. 

 "4. 

 "5. 



Reducing the cost of marketing. 

 Improving the distribution of the product. 

 Increasing the demand for the product. 

 Standardizing the product. 

 Protecting the individual grower." 



from Mr. Powell: 



