Getting The Honey To Market

In most cases the beginner will find his local market the best place to sell his crop. It is usually possible to develop a local market for a small crop at much better prices than could be realized by selling through commission merchants in a large city. The man who sells at home is able to get retail prices for much of his product and to save the amount that would otherwise be consumed in freights and commissions. The man or woman who expects to follow beekeeping as a business will make a great mistake if he fails to ask a good price for his product in the beginning. Too many are willing to sell their honey at retail, at the wholesale prices. This is a serious injury to the market and always tends to depress the prices. If one never expects to have much honey to sell he should still have some regard for the rights of others and sell at a reasonable price. If one has anything to give away he may well do so, but should not injure his neighbor who depends upon honey production for a livelihood by cutting prices. Production of a commodity is one thing and selling it is quite another. If the producer chooses to market his product at retail he should get paid for the selling as well as the production of his crop.

Reaching The Distant Market

On one occasion the writer made a journey to Chicago to see what could be learned about the marketing of honey through the large wholesale centers and also something of the best retail trade in a large city.

In order to learn as much as possible about conditions an effort was made to follow the honey from the producer to the consumer. This involved a study of the conditions of transportation by freight or express, a visit to the wholesale district and to the retail stores which serve the best trade.

One point that soon became very apparent was that of the hundreds of commission firms only a few handle honey at all. There were hundreds of crates of cabbages, celery, sweet potatoes, oranges, apples, and other staple products to one case of honey. It did not take the writer long to decide that the trouble was not due to over-production.

After talking to a number of commission merchants who do not handle it at all as well as those who do, it began to look like the trouble was of quite a different kind. It looks very much to the writer like it is improper distribution and lack of incentive for the merchants to push our product. A merchant dislikes to establish a trade for a product which he is unable to supply. If even twenty per cent of the commission merchants should undertake to establish a trade in honey and should succeed to the extent that a few have done the supply would not last one-third the year. If a man orders honey from his grocer and is unable to get it, maple syrup or corn syrup will take its place and the next order will be for the substitute.

Some beekeepers are forever talking about overproduction and lack of demand. When corn flakes first appeared on the market there was no demand but the manufacturers proceeded to create a demand by extensive advertising and to fix the price at a point which would pay for their product and pay for the advertising in addition.

Competition is very keen, especially in the large market centers. One firm visited, handled three million dollars' worth of produce that year. This amount would make a pretty big hole in the honey crop for one season.

As it now stands in many markets there is no effort to supply honey at all seasons of the year. The crop is moved as quickly as possible after it is harvested with the result that the market is either crowded with honey or bare. A dealer who would build up a trade must depend upon buying large quantities long in advance and anticipate the demand of his trade for several months. The honey producers seem to be in about the same condition that the orange growers were in 1895 before they perfected their marketing organizations.