The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, 1921-04-27
!. what Constitutes Marketing.

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the problem which cooperative mar
keting by growers is expected to solve
Is, How may the grower obtain a
larger share Of the consumers dol
lar?" It would be well now to ex-
plain what constitutes marketing OF
a commodity. as there is much mys-
tification on the subject. Marketing q
crop includes all those steps through
which crop is put in passing from
the grower to the consumer. There
are number Of these steps.
In the first place, the crop or COM
modify must he concentrated or as
and similar grade and quality. Grow
ers frequently sell their crop in a
lump, the good with the bad, the total
amount to a small lot of mixed grades.
Consumers do not buy this way, how
ever, and therefore somebody must
take the crops composed of a mixture
of grades from a great many farmers
and assemble from them even running
lots suitable for supplying the de-
mandS of consumers. -
Not only must crops be concentrat-
ed and graded, but since consumers
cannot Immediately purchase the en-
tire crop as soon as it is harvested, a
part of the crop must be warehoused
and protected until such time as there
is demand for it from consumers.
Some farm commodities require OILY
shelter while some require cold stor-
age. Some may be held short time
and some long time. A part of prac-
tically every important crop. is ware
housed or stored in some way be-
fore it is consumed.
Most crops also require treatment,
processing, manufacturing or some
kind Of additional handling which en-
hances the value. after the grower
disposes of it.
Transportation is another of the
steps in marketing that come be-
tween the growing and the consum-
ing Of most Of our farm crops.
Expert Salcsmnnship and Financing
Most Important
Farmers seldom use expert sales
manship in disposing of their crops
individually. and consumers seldom
buy these crops until after someone
has applied expert salesmanship at
one or more points on the journey
from the grower to the consumer
Therefore we may consider that ex-
pert salesmanship is one of the most
essential steps in marketing.
- Another important step in man.
keting is the financing of the move
ment Of commodities from grower to
consumer. Growers ordinarily re-
delivered at the first on primary. mar
ket place. The produce may not be
put through the necessary processes,
reach the merchants shelves and he
finally sold to the consumer in whose
possession it disappears from COM
mcrce until months afterward. In Ahe
meantime somebody has capital in
vested in the commodity. and interest
must he paid for the use Of such ca nj =
tnl. Hence. financing the movement
OF a commodity, especially non-pcr-
ishablc commodities. is one of the
. important steps in marketing.
Still another step in marketing but
one which is of less Immediate i'm
Dortance to the growers because 50
far removed from them is the final
retailing of the commodity after it has
been through the other steps.
Real Marketing More Than Dump
ing on Primary Markets
Summarizing the various steps. we
see that marketing crops consists OF:
.I) Concentration or assembling of
the commodity: (2) Grading and
Standardizing: CD Warehousing. stor-
ing. processing: (I Transportation;
f5) Financing: (6) Expert salesman
ship; (O Final retailing.
From this we see that marketing n
commodity means more than hauling
it as soon as produced to the nearest
concentration point and dumping it
for whatever price may be offered on
Il glutted primary market. Mark ct
ing only begins when that is done,
and the wide differences between the
growers receipts and consumers pric-
es indicate that those who look after
the various steps in marketing exact
very good wages indeed for their ser
vices. In fact. in some of these
steps farmers are coming to believe
that economies might be effected
through cooperative marketing to the
mutual advantage of growers and
consumers. Cooperative marketing