Pricing Performance in Marketing Fresh Winter Carrots

Price analysis was used to determine if the behavior of weekly carrot prices at shipping points and wholesale terminal markets is generally consistent with a competitive marketing system. The marketing system for fresh winter carrots in 1966-68 performed efficiently in establishing prices that cleared the supply of perishable produce each day and week of the marketing season. Prices at all locations in the marketing system were closely correlated, separated by transportation, storage, and handling costs. Margins were related to the distance transported and the price of the commodity. Shipping-point prices were inversely related to the supply of carrots available. Price estimates were significantly improved by adding proxy variables--temperature and rainfall during production and harvest--to reflect the quality and size distribution of carrots marketed. Wholesale terminal market prices directly responded to shifts in shipping-point prices