70 



PROCEEDINGS OF THIRTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



MARKETING. 



And now we come to the keystone of the whole matter. We may get 

 lots of pleasure and satisfaction out of our orchards in producing a 

 beautiful bloom and a splendid crop, but unless we can turn this into 

 cold hard cash it will never be considered as a commercial proposition. 

 It must pay ! We must be able to make a net profit over and above the 

 cost of production, or there will be no inducement to become or con- 

 tinue to be a producer. The last few cents per pound that the market 

 warrants will be that net profit, and you should have it. Don't forget 

 this. There are various efforts at cooperation among growers which are 

 more or less successful, but there is no other line in which all might 

 be enlisted as easily as the almond growers. The reason for this is the 

 ease with which values may be determined. Just as long as the 

 larger part of the almonds consumed are imported it is is plain that 

 the price of the foreign product must fix the price of the home product. 

 When we have a plentiful crop on this coast Ave have to ship some to 

 the East. Therefore, the price of foreign almonds laid down at New 

 York, duty paid, less the freight from here to New York will determine 

 the price on this coast. When crops are light here we consume all our 

 product on the coast, and then the price of foreign almonds landed at 

 New York, plus duty and freight out here, will determine the price 

 here. This is so fixed and definite that it should be easy to determine 

 the market price, yet very few seem to know about it. 



The present method of marketing in a haphazard way works a hard- 

 ship on the grower because he does not always get a fair price for his 

 product, the price the market warrants. As at present operated, the 

 speculators learn about the foreign crop late in June or early in July, 

 determine what the maximum price on this coast will be and then 

 endeavor to purchase from the grower just as much below that price as 

 possible. The object is not to buy low and sell high, for they usually 

 sell on a fixed margin above cost, but the aim is to undersell their com- 

 petitors when they go to the jobbing trade, as this is the one method 

 above all others which will bring them business. The sj^stem is not to 

 their real advantage, however, because they never know when a com- 

 petitor may be able to buy still cheaper from some other grower and so 

 undersell them or cause them a loss. The party who bought our 

 almonds this year said he would just as soon pay 30 cents as 20 cents 

 if the market was steadied so he knew just w T hat he was doing. But when 

 he buys on a two-cent margin, and some other buyer succeeds in buying 

 from some other grower for two cents less, then the other buyer is able 

 to depress the market to that extent in his quotations to the trade, 

 and my buyer, as well as others who were inclined to deal fairly by the 

 growers, surfer a loss which untimately falls on the growers themselves. 

 Understand that if you sell below the market price, you not only lose the 

 net profit that should be yours, but you cause a loss to all other growers 

 and fair dealers. It is absolutely a case where no grower stands or falls 

 alone, but he necessarily carries his fellow men with him. What we 

 want is some method of marketing that will make the market for 

 almonds as steady and stable as the market for flour or sugar. This will 

 work no hardship to any one, but will be universally beneficial. It is a 

 plan that ought to meet the approval of every buyer and seller alike. 

 Then why not ? 



