Adjustments in the Optimum Number, Size and Location of Tablestock Potato Packing Plants in Maine

Extract

The results of a study to determine the optimum number, size and location of potato packing plants in Maine were recently published. These results indicated that economic efficiency of the industry as a whole could be improved with a movement toward fewer and larger plants since aggregate costs of the three marketing functions—assembly, packing, and distribution to consumption centers—could be reduced. In addition to the economic efficiencies involved, the large plant is better able to respond to orders from buyers desiring a uniform and high quality pack in large volume. A small grower-packer, handling only his own potatoes, may not have the volume of potatoes necessary to offer a particular type of pack with any continuity.