Věstník (West, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 27, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 1, 1953 Page: 19 of 32
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Wednešday, duly 1, 1953
V Ě STNÍK-- WEST, TEXAS
WHERE YOUR DOLLAR GOES
Str&rm Í0
Today’s economic systém is so com-
plex that it costs more to market farm
Products in the U. S. than to grow them
In 1952, for example, the farmers re-
ceived about 47c from every $1 of the
$405/2 billion spent on farm foods.
This means that from the time the
food left the fármeťs hands imtil you
bought it at the store, the price jumped'
52c cn each dollar. Already the experts
are predicting that farmers will get an
even smaller percentage in 1953. Their
táke will fall, although retail priees are
expected to remain about the same and
food consumption is expected to rise.
Iťs really not as bad as it sounds —
at least not in the opinion of Reid
Grigsby, associate marketing specialist
(Oondensed from Dixie)
the line, including the farmer.
The next thing the housewife is likely
to ask is this. “Who’s getting rich on all
that added. cost?” In Reid Grigsby’s
opinion, “Nobcdy.” -o
Many peoplejiave felt that since the
permarket. Sales forces were redueed
drastically as Mrs. Housewife bcgan to
serve herself. Everyone thought the
change surely would lower priees, and
..it has, to a certain extent. But, says
analyst Grigsby, something else came
in to Upset the applecart.. “When the
littie lady started pieking out her own
cost of farm products was high, farmers ’ he s^ys, “she became a littie
< ... . ___ __ .... vv\.'■'>»£> nnuflrti-.lrn’ >>
for Lousiana State university. He has U. S. Department of Agriculture, shows
been dealing with farm-marketing preb-
lems for 17 years, and holds a Harvard
doctorate in agricultural economics.
Here’s the way he expiains the pres-
ent high food costs. First, he says, iťs
important to realize that the season for
the high cost is probably a result of our
present way of life, entailing “built-in”
security. Labor is pegging wages as high
as possible. More than half of the cost
of marketing farm products today is
charged against labor.
Similarly, transport companies háve
must he ricling in Cadillacs. The U. S.
Department of Agriculture reports that
farmers’ incomes háve risen steadily
since 1940. But closer look shows that
in terms of actuai value the farmer can
purchase littie more with this money
than he cculd with what he was making
before the 2nd World War.
The Outlook for 1953, computed by the
a smaller return to the farmers for most
1953 products even though retail priees
will remain about the same. The differ-
' ence will go into added marketing
charges. The farmer will still pay high
priees for tractors and fertilizers. Thus,
his pocketbook is going to be a littie
thinner.
The estimate that farmers in 1952 re-
ceived 48c of the eonsumeťs dollar (he
got 50c in 1951) means that this is the
average for all farm products. Indivi-
dua! figures range from the farmer get-
received higher rates to meet rising 63c °f every $1 spent on meat, to
costs. These two items alone explain the a meager 20c of every $1 spent on grain
somewhat lopsided breakdcwn of mark-1 Products. Says Grigsby, “The more la-
eting charges, but there are other im- bor ušed, the higher the marketing,
portant considerations. Today the pur-| charges, and the less the farmer gets of
chaser of farm foods is getting more the money spent.”
addéd Services. These Services make the ! Fresh fruits and vegetables, the most
food more sanitary and easier to handle. ’ widely consumed of all farm products,
And they cost money. ^bring the farmer only 37c of their re-.
Mrs. Housewife, ifowever, still wants tail dollar value. Yet, oddly enough,
to know why she pays 17c a pound to- j n'\)re anit more farmers are leaving
day for a vegetable that the farmer!other products to raise perishables.
sold yesterday for 9c.
E.ist season the beans brought the
farmer 6c to 9c a pound. By the time
the beans reached the wholesaler the
price was up to 90c or 12c a pound.
When Mrs. Housewife and purehaseifj
across the nation were ready to do bus-
ines with the retailer, the price was a-
bout 17c a pound.
table. They are loaded on trueks, then
unloaded, to be loaded in freight cars.
They are picked up and put in stalls;
they are picked up and displayed in bins.
Every time a hand touches them it costs
money because labor is high, even
added cost is passed along until it final-
ly reaches the housewife. The finál cost
Therein lies a stery dotted with odd and
interesting faets.
Each person now eats 3.4 pounds of
green beans a year while he ate only 1.1
pounds in 1932. He eats 108 pounds of
leaíy green vegetables, compared to his
former 86 pounds. He has deereased his
annual consumption of white potatoes
from 154 pounds to 104 pounds. The rea-
Beans are handle.d at least a dozen son *s simPly that since the 2nc^ ^oild
times from the fields to your dinner War more emphasis and education has
- • * — ... .... been placed on proper diets. Women are
bonmbarded with calorie charts; ehil-
dřen come home from school and ques-
tion parents if their dinners are not bal-
anced. Amidst this bonanza sits the veg-
etable farmer. He didn’t advertise his
tliough nene of it is skilled labor. The Paeclucts, he was just found in the
swirl.
Preceding this switch to fresh veg-j 41,193 Best Oťfices in the U,S. and its
more particwiar.”
Figures show that in green beans,
which most people would consider a
fairly stable vegetable. store owners
eventually throw away 6% of what they
set out. Naturally, most of these dis-
carded beans were inferior but many
were continually bypassed because of a
slight flaw and many more were ruined
by nimble-fingered housewives. The
store owner doesn’t také this loss; it
usually is included in the price. You can
imagine what it is like with tomatoes
and Iettuce. Today the U. S. throws away
a staggering amount of-food, One-tenth
of our cucumbers go to garbage; the
same with corn.
One thing the average housewife
doesn’t mind paying for is the added
Service she gets *en many products. Poul-
try is dressed and divided into seetions;
tomatoes are boxed; individual šoup
bunches are wrapped in cellophane; e-
ven potatoes are pre-peeled and neatly
wrapped for the housewife.
Though these Services reduce the
number of salespeople needed, the cost
is high and the difference is borne by
the consumér. It inereases the market-
ing charges but deereases the amount of
work which falls to the housewife. Much
work doně in Processing plants today
formerly was doně in the ldtchen.
AI! of these considerations only
serateh the surface of the complex sys-
tém of getting focd from the farmer to
you. AI though Brigsby admits that
marketing, is traveling at natural and
expected cour.se, he still occasionally
wonders about some of its odd fěsults.
-) ♦ * ♦ (--
A CKE 1)0 FOR EDITORS
. Of myself I can clo littie,
A few brieks by my hands peThaps,
My feet a few faltering steps.
But if I can gather and stimulate
The thoughts of men,
If I can gather understanding souls
And fashion their hand together—
Here indeed is a lever
Which can move the world.
-—> ♦ £ ♦ (---
As of July 1951, there was a total of
of the products pays every body along etables, consumers grew to like the su- possessions.
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Valcik, Stephen. Věstník (West, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 27, Ed. 1 Wednesday, July 1, 1953, newspaper, July 1, 1953; West, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth624919/m1/19/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas.