The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1923-06-21
RANKIN COUNTY S
GIRL WINS yFAL
IN ESSASS O sNTEST
Mary Shield os ding Medalist in
PeIahatc cOeS -sgh School. Contest
Conducte, ~oy Interstate Trust &
Banking Co.

wary SntetCSN&s ding NlS0dHSt ~
PeIahatC'Oc -sgh School. Contest
Conducte, ~oy Interstate Trust 6
Banking Co.
Editors Note:--We are re-
producing the essay, sis CO.
operative Marketing Beneficial
to the Community Generally"
written by Miss Mary Shields,
of Pelahatchie. 1t is well worth
reproduction, and we believe
will help create interest i'm this
new phase of marketing.
When Mississippians learn to ap-
ply the same scientific study and
business management to marketing
that they have already learned to
apply to production, larger benefits
will be realized in a financial way
and in the we'll being of the farmer,
his family and his community.
For many years there has been
a recognized need for better farm
conditions and as result the farm
er has learned to apply the principle
of scientific farming. He has learn
ed to rotate his crops, to select his
seed and to use modern machinery,
consequently he raises a very much
larger crop than formerly. But is
the farmer greatly benefited by
this? Financially, no. He receives
very little more for his large crop
than he did for the smaller one.
Agricultural education has not
only increased the production, but
it has broadened the farmers hori-
zon as well, and he plainly sees the
need of an improved method of
marketing.
In the past the farmer has either
glutted the market, thus doing well
to get any price for his produce, or
has sold it to a middle-man, who
pays little for it and sells 1t for
much. The middle-m man buys the
produce when prices are low and
keeps it until he can get high prices.
The lack of an efficient marketing
system means waste. What is vast
ed would feed u.s. Cooperative mar
keting seems the only solution OF
the problem. 1t has been tried and
proven a success in other states.
We talk easily of, and demand,
more production, but we shy at the
word market. There should be
no greater production unless the
produce can be marketed at profit
to the grower.
When we learn cooperation, town
and country working together, when
we forget self, and begin to practice
plain, common sense cooperation,
realizing that we must profit ii we
are to have true prosperity, then,
and then only will we be ready
for a practical marketing system
or more production.
The producers of Mississippi must
organize by lines of production,
just as the producers of various
commodities elsewhere have done,
dairy products, vegetables, fruits,
live stock, tobacco, grain and other
farm products.
We must not expect to work out
and perfect a satisfactory market
ing system in week, a month,
season or year. It will take a.
number of years, and we must not
expect results too quickly, but it
will be well worth the time and
effort expended. No matter how
hard we try to work out this prob
lem, it can never be done without
cooperation between the farm peO-
pie and town people. By this sys-
tenn the farmer will receive the
profit that formerly went to the
middle man.
Through their state organization
the farmers are being benefited in
the purchasing of their fertilizers,
one of the expensive items that go
into the production of the crop.
BY buying and selling coopera-
lively and thus handling their pro-
duets in car lots, the farmer will
save the difference between car lot
shipments and local freight. This
item alone will materially help the
farmer to realize a profit.
After the farmer has done every
thing he can to reduce the outlay
for material and supplies, by pro-
ducing more largely for home con-
sumption and working more largely
to make his surroundings attractive,
he should next give careful thought
to the adjustment of his commercial
production to the demands of the
market. The present situation does
not demand that farmers revert en-
llEtlH W sell SYSTEM VI
farming but simply that they give
more thought to the possibilities
of producing directly for their own
use and give less time and energy
to producing for the market. But,
to the extent to which they con-
tinue to produce for the market,
they should give particular atten-
ton to the production of the things
for which there is good demand.
OF course this means the production
of goods of high quality, but it also
means in some instances the prOduc-
tion of different things.
The farmer should take hold of
his problems with renewed energy
and determination. There are bet
ter times ahead, when we once re-
alize the real importanc of our
position to the world and begin our
cooperative work in each community
and solve the many problems as
a community unit.
In the sections where you find
cooperative marketing associations
you will find happy, prosperous
farmers, whose families are well
dressed, well educated and content
ed.
Where you find lack OF this
organization you will find the farm
ers discontented as well as poor
and unhappy. They do not have the
advantages that the farmer has