Developments in Marketing Spreads for Agricultural Products in 1960

Excerpts from the Preface: The FARM-RETAIL SPREAD or marketing margin is an estimate of charges made by marketing agencies for assembling, processing, transporting, and distributing a farm product. It is the difference between the retail price and the farm value. The FARM VALUE is the return to the farmer for farm products equivalent to those bought by the consumer. The Congress in 1955 directed the Department of Agriculture to make special studies of spreads between prices paid by consumers and those received by farmers. The Department has published reports of several of these studies. The reports published in 1960 and early 1961 are summarized in this report, which was prepared for the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives