Introduction to agricultural marketing

• Main Author: Branson, Robert E (Author)
• Other Authors: Norvell, Douglass G
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: New York McGraw-Hill 1983; ©1983
• Subjects: Produce trade > United States; Agriculture > Economic aspects > United States; Farm produce > Marketing > United States
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.
• Physical Description: xx, 521 pages illustrations 24 cm
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 0070072418; 9780070072411

In its earliest form, marketing was defined simply on the basis of the product as the processes associated with the exchange of one product for another. In return for the product sold, the seller received from the buyer another product, or money. Thus, one fundamental component of marketing is exchange. However, marketing can rarely be described in terms of a single exchange. Consider this example: A farmer sells 1000 bushels of wheat to a local grain dealer; the grain dealer sells the wheat to a flour mill; flour processed from the wheat is sold to bakeries (or directly to homes), for making breads and pas- tries; bakery goods may go to a wholesaler, and then to a retail store, before being sold to consumers. All these transactions involve intermediary activities which are directly related to marketing. Therefore, a more comprehensive product definition of marketing is the performance of all the transactions and services associated with the flow of a good from the point of initial produc tion to the final consumer-whether it is a consumer good or a production input. This expanded definition may not be immediately clear, but we shall return to it later.