The Ocala evening star., 1922-10-06
MARKETING FARM PRODUCTS

(By x. {. Moore, County Agent)
Under our present system of SELL
ing tomatoes and melons each grower
is competitor of each other grower
in selling to buyers. In turn each
buyer is a competitor of each other
buyer in putting them into the hands
of the commission firms. They COM
pete for the brokers' trade and they
for the retail, hucksters, etc.
The following quotation from let
ter written by Mr.. A. w. Simmons,
president of the Walla Walla Valley
Prune Growers Association, is illumi-
mating.
"One of the local shippers is ex-
planning his method of doing business
said: AT the beginning of the ship
ping season, was offered 70 cents
per suitcase for prunes and I sold a
large number of cars at that price. I
was then offered IS cents per suitcase
and I sold a large number of cars at
that price. And while / was selling
at 65 cents the other eight shipping
houses were holding for 70 cents.
| was then offered 90 cents and I sold
a large number of cars at that price
and while | was selling at so cents the
other fellows were holding for 6E
cents
"Now each time that this shipper
slipped down the price five cents il
cost the prune growers of this valley
SAT 900, and when tell you he slipped
down the price to 35 cents the enor.
nifty of the loss to the prune growers
of this valley can be estimated"
This past season 720 car loads Of
tomatoes were shipped out of Marion
county, exclusive of express ship
ments. This means at least 3O2, ,4O(
crates. The market price on these
for two weeks ran around $3.50 pei
crate A conservative estimate of the
amount that sold at these prices is
third of our shipments.
IF our growers had got this market
price they would have received fol
this third of the crop about $3.50, 400
But they did not average as high a:
$3.50 per crate. In other words, they
got about s151, ,24O, while the buyer:
got about 100000.
If our tomato growers had been or
ganized and shipped through an asso
citation they could have paid every ex
pense and realized about $125,00(
more for this third of the crop. Ant
it is reasonable to suppose that b!
controlling the distribution the othel
two-thirds of what was shipped from
Marion county would have piled up I
much larger net profit.
It is a conservative estimate tina
the buyers netted SOC. crate on an
other third of our crop and 25c. crat'
on another third. This would figur'
!: s75 500. Add this to the $125,000 ant
it is seen that on this one crop alon'
Marion county, (the farmers, the mer
chants, the bankers), would have beel
100000 richer. Suppose this fgur
should be divided in half; it woul'
seem worth pulling for. Should thi
not interest every banker and ever,
business man in Marion county
l The 100000 figure however is no
too high. A well organized associa
ton. following the plans that hav
/ ben proven out in other sections
=. would have, by better grading an
: distribution, shipped more cars of to
{ matoes and secured better price o.
= the latter two-thirds of the crop tina
4 did move, and there would likely no
!. have been a great price reducing com
/ petition.
? Has anvone failed to observe tina
e Ocala has had fresh tomatoes in ou
market practically all the year An
lhas anyone found a tomato ship
: ped here since our shipping seaso
n closed that would grade fancy? Wha
n does this mean? 1t means that oil
t ganization is supplying US and tn
d whole United States and Canada th
p wear around with fresh fruits an
S vegetables, and it means that organ
2 zation is selling the lower grades an
t even culls. The writer has on man
: occasions this summer noted that mo:
of the tomatoes displayed here woul
not have been considered for minut
by our buyers this past spring.
vast lot of better tomatoes wei
d dumped along our highways and
g the fields and woods.
Another reason why the $4,000
figure is not too high is that many ,
Il oIrr crrnvars were comDelled to NJ