The Mena weekly star., 1917-09-13
FARMERS SHOULD
 GET TOGETHER
Much Money Is Lost Because the Farmers Do Not Use Business Methods in Selling Their
 Produce

r'arming is a business and demands The use of business methods A few years ago farm products were not so widely distributed as they are today. Then the farmer could load his prod ncts on his wagon, drive to town and dispose of them with little difficulty Now he generally finds that some one else has been 10 his market Can taloupes are there from far distant states when his cantaloupes should have filled the demand Butter has been shipped in from a large cream cry hundreds of miles distant when his butter should have supplied the wants of that locality; and even the bacon. that he used to furnish, now comes from packing plants that he never heard of before. This change IS due 10 increasing competition on the part of producers everywhere. Groups of farmers unite their efforts in producing a given food crop. They find they must seek larger and more extensive markets. They push their products out farther and farther un- til they reach every corner of the earth. Unless the local grower can compete in quality and kind, he finds that the other fellow has taken his place on his home market The local grower is soon convinced that he is in competitive game. Instead of bemoaning his fate he determines that to succeed he must follow the methods of those who have crowded him out
 Must Produce Quality and ouan-
 tity To Compete.
 He learns that he must produce quality in order to interest the buyer who used to take his home product. When he has done that like his com petitors he must begin to develop new markets for his products He looks about for a wider outlet and finds 1t, in many cases, miles distant which requires shipping in large amounts generally in car lots, in order to leave a profit. It is true that it costs more to reach this distant market, but it must be reached in order to sell. The grower also finds that he must em- ploy the services of distributors 10 enable him to locate his products on into his profits, but things adjust themselves in time and eventually he finds himself in the great game of food distribution. operating his busi- ness on small margins and striving to increase his earnings by greater and better production.
 Cooperation Increases Profits.
 The day will come when the grower must conclude that some of the cost of conducting his business may be lessened by uniting his efforts with those of his neighbors. He then helps to form cooperative selling organize tions with the growers of his locality who are striving to produce the same commodity. Jointly they employ an efficient sales manager in whom they have implicit confidence. Their com bined output is of such quantity and quality that they easily take their place in the big competitive game on distant markets and they find that by working together they can greatly lessen the cost of production and handling of their products. All of this means bigger returns to tho grower individually and demonstrates that while man may profitably ope- rate individually on large scale he can do so more successfully and in more business-like way by co-ope- rating with his neighbors.
 Which Farmer Are You7
 This is the story in a nutshell of successful marketing and unless we recognize the forces now operating and prepare to meet increasing com petition we shall be destined to con tinue to labor quietly on our farms, growing only small surplus over what we can consume ourselves and trading it for those other necessities of life which we cannot raise Win you Ice a good farmer. able to meet competition intelligently and through cooperative efforts proftably dispose of your cash crops, or will you be just grower allowing some one else 10 profit on your surplus? Remember. producing is only one half the game of farming selling is the other half