"Farming in the United States is a bitter, tear-stained struggle against wholesale distributors."
Hank Campbell began with those words, joining a group of old farmers in complaining about the agricultural environment in the United States.
"Do you know how many hands produce from the fields must pass through before it reaches people's tables? Distributors, transport companies, then market vendors or supermarket chains. The more middlemen there are, the more layers of markup get added to the price of agricultural products."
Henry said, "But some major American cities, like New York where I live, have farmers' markets. Nearby farms bring their own products to designated locations at fixed times and sell them themselves, creating the shortest route from field to table. Wouldn't that work?"
Hank Campbell said, "But then farms have to bear the transportation costs themselves, as well as absorb the losses when their produce doesn't sell.
"No farmer can watch the fruits of his labor rot because they've sat out too long and then have to throw them away without his heart bleeding."
"If the entire batch of produce is sold to a distributor, those risks are transferred away. Even if the unit price is lower than selling it yourself, you can sell all your produce, and your total returns may not be lower than direct sales. You can work out that math, can't you?"
Henry nodded in understanding. Another old farmer beside him picked up the conversation. "And for small farmers selling directly, only big cities with a certain level of economic development have enough purchasing power. Ordinary small towns simply don't have a large enough market.
"If a farm is far from a city, or wants to sell across state lines, once transportation costs are included, it may actually be more worthwhile to sell directly to distributors.