Study of Producer Marketing of Fruits and Vegetables on the Growers\u27 Market in Salt Lake City, Utah

The Growers\u27 Market Company in Salt Lake City was established in its present form in 1919. It developed out of the need of growers and produce dealers and has served an important function in providing a market place where buyers and sellers of fruits and vegetables can be brought together in an orderly fashion to transact business. During the four months period of this study it was estimated that over 10,000 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables valued at about $960,000 were sold over the market platforms. This represents over 25 per cent of the requirements of fruits and vegetables for the population of Salt Lake City for one year. The principal production areas are close to the market, most of the produce coming from within a 20 mile radius. Growers in Salt Lake and Davis counties account for 85 per cent of the produce sold on the platforms. About 35 per cent of the production of fresh fruits and vegetables of these two counties are sold through the Growers\u27 Market outlet. Volume of produce by weight on the market increased almost week by week from June sixth on through most of September which was the high month. Mondays and Thursdays were the most important market days by weight and value. On these days the largest number and the heaviest loads were delivered. These were the days on which truckers did their buying on the market. The average load for the season was a little less than one and one-half tons and was valued at around $130. The loads in June were the lightest in weight, about 1700 pounds, but brought the highest value of the season for any month which was about $148. September loads averaged 3,200 pounds worth $127. The larger loads by weight took longer to sell but the pounds sold per hour increased four to ten times in favor of the larger over the smaller loads. Selling time for the more valuable loads did not increase as it did for increase by weight. The value of produce sold per hour was about seven times as high for the most valuable loads as for the cheapest loads. There appeared to be some relationship between the distance traveled and load size. The heavier and more valuable loads were brought the greater distances to market. Market costs incurred by the growers in using the market platforms amounted to slightly over $200 per grower for the season. Cost of transportation and containers averaged about $380 per grower for the season. Containers were a very large item of the cost of marketing. For farmers it was about 42 per cent of the total cost, including grower market cost, transportation and containers. It was a much higher percentage for farmer-commission-men amounting to 69 per cent. Since the price of containers is a fairly fixed cost, a larger percentage of the selling price for low quality produce would be for containers. One-third of the produce sold on the platforms was purchased by wholesalers, one-fourth by truckers, a little less than one-fifth by chain stores and the balance by city retailers, peddlers, platform retailers and consumers. Daily renters, as a type of seller, sold mostly to wholesalers and truckers. Farmers sold largely to wholesalers and farmer-commission-men sold the largest percentage of their produce to the chain stores and lesser percentages to wholesalers and truckers. Wholesalers redistributed about two-thirds of the produce they bought to independent retailers in the city and about 15 per cent to truckers. It is estimated that about 64 per cent of the produce sold on the platform remained for consumption in the city. With relatively uniform consumption demands made by a fairly fixed population for the short period of time of this study, the principal price determining factor for local produce was the volume of produce offered for sale. This was influenced by the weather and in-shipments of produce from other states before and during the season for Utah produce. The number of growers utilizing the platforms has decreased from about 250 to about 68 during the past 10 years. Part of this difference is accounted for by consolidation of loads. The number of buyers has decreased also. The operations of truckers and wholesalers on the other hand has increased. Improvements in transportation, higher costs and scarcity of labor, along with changes in the wholesaling system, (all of which have been intensified by war conditions), have been the major causes of these changes. The major criticism of grower activities, by wholesalers and the writer, is the poor quality, grading and packaging of the produce they bring to market. Another major criticism of the market, offered by wholesalers and growers alike is the company practice of allowing growers who are selling largely to wholesalers and market retailers to operate side by side