Labor in the Marketing of Farm Food Products

Farm-retail price spreads and the farmer's share of the consumer's dollar have long been the concern of both producers and consumers, as well as legislative bodies and other public policy groups. The farm-retail price spread for many farm products is a large part of the retail price—about 85 percent of the costs of tobacco products, household textiles, and clothing at retail, and more than half of the retail-store cost of food. To develop an understanding of the size of these spreads and the variations between products and time periods, it is necessary to consider the services performed in getting the products from the farmers to the consumers and the costs of performing these services. This article describes the statistics compiled in the Agricultural Marketing Service for measuring labor costs as a component of the farm-retail spread and the uses of these statistics