Smyrna times., 1927-09-14

From marketing STANDPOINT, we
make about all the mistakes it is pos
sible to make. AS result, we do not
get the money for our crops that we
should. That is, the growers do not
get the money. AS a result, bank de-
posits suffer. 1t is possible to do
something along constructive lines.
That has been demonstrated.
Work in Virginia
Down in the two Eastern Shore
counties of Virginia, bankers and po-
tato growers got together last winter
and decided to organize along practl-
cal lines. Accomack and Northamp-
ton have long produced a standard
article-a white potato, well and fav-
orajbly known in trade circles. The
growers, not satisfied with the COM
petition from other states against
which they have always been forced to
contend, have for years been compet-
ing with themselves. Competitive
selling was the rule. The growers
and the bankers decided that was the
first thing to stop. Competitive sell
ing on the part of the growers will
ruin any market. Moreover, prices
always GO down when products con-
verge upon the same distributing
point. The Virginia potato growers
organized theEastern Shore Farmers
Association. And then they organic
ed a quotation committee. Members
of the association as well as the prin-
cipal buyers, agreed to adhere to quo
tation committee figures. The COM
mittee routed the products to market.
1t advised the growers when to dig
and when not to dig; when to ship and
when not to ship. AS result, the
Accomack and Northampton potato
crop sold for $4,200,000 more than it
would have brought if marketed by
growers who were racing with each
other to reach the same market. And
the growers added a $1,OOO,OOO to
their profits. All of which means,
that Accomack and Northampton
bankers are better off than they would
otherwise have been. The extra
money in the farmers till.
If bankers and growers working to-
gether in Accomack and Northampton
can accomplish such really amazing
results, what couldn't they do if they
were working hand in hand through
out the Peninsula? The Peninsula ap-
pie, peach, cantaloupe, cucumber and
sweet potato crops are not as whole,
efficiently handled, they are not ad-
vertised. One Delaware distributor
asserts that as a result of little ad-
vertising and correspondence by the
Del -Mar-Va Eastern Shore Associa-
ton, he received eighty-six orders and
INQUIRIES for strawberries in districts
where Delaware strawberries have not
heretofore been shipped. Another
shipper says he has received and paid
back to growers from so cents to a
dollar more for this years graded Gu
cumber, than he handed the growers
last year for an ungraded product.
Crop Receipts Increase
The American Express Company
says that the revenues from straw
berry shipments this year were in ex-
cess of last years revenue by more
than 10 per cent notwithstanding a
short crop. This increase is due to
longer hauls. Peninsula products
were carried into new markets instead
of being dumped into the already
glutted markets lying near at hand
It is easy to say that marketing Is
problem for the grower, and that i
is nobody's busines whether the agri-
culturist uses fertilizer or exhausts
the soil, whether he uses moderT
equipment or follows in the footstep:
of his grandfather. IF the farmer
doesn't know his onions" says the av
erage banker, $50 much the worse TO,
him." Bankers, however, take fa
more intelligent interest in industry
They will not finance manufacturing
establishment that does not have al
efficient sales organization. Befor
making a loan, they investigate equip
ment and place an estimate upon man
agerial ability. And if conditions ar
not to their liking they are slow in
augurating an effective campaign Q
education.
After a careful inquiry | am salts
fed the Peninsula agriculture receipt
could be increased $10O,000,000 a yea
if we raise the right varieties, fol
low modern marketing methods an
back our products with a modest ad
vertising appropriation designed t
create and stimulate future demant
AS matters stand now, we are throw
ing away millions every year-mi
lions that we might add to our pre-!
ent resources. We are Of course, mis-!
ing another bet. Our agricultur;
population is not increasing the wa
it should. Every banker in Delawal
! would rise up on his hind legs and ol
i | pose with might and main any schen
Z to take 5000 people from Delawal
and colonize them in Florida or Ca
: ifornia. Five thousand people woul
!. be missed. If they moved away the
4 Io~1ri4c fro-