Agricultural marketing

Agricultural marketing covers the services involved in moving an agricultural product from the farm to the consumer. Numerous interconnected activities are involved in doing this, such as planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, agro- and food processing, distribution, advertising and sale. Some definitions would even include “the acts of buying supplies, renting equipment, (and) paying labor", arguing that marketing is everything a business does.

In the United States the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is a division of USDA and has programs for cotton, dairy, fruit and vegetable, livestock and seed, poultry, and tobacco. These programs provide testing, standardization, grading and market news services and oversee marketing agreements and orders, administer research and promotion programs, and purchase commodities for federal food programs. The AMS also enforces certain federal laws. USDA also provides support to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University] and to Penn State University.

In the United Kingdom, support for marketing of some commodities was provided before and after the Second World War by boards such as the Milk Marketing Board and the Egg Marketing Board. These boards were closed down in the 1970s. As a colonial power, Britain established marketing boards in many countries, particularly in Africa. Some continue to exist although many were closed down at the time of the introduction of structural adjustment measures in the 1990s.

In recent years, several developing countries have established government-sponsored marketing or agribusiness units. South Africa, for example, started the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC) as a response to the deregulation of the agriculture industry and closure of marketing boards in the country. India has the long-established National Institute of Agricultural Marketing. These are primarily research and policy organizations, but other agencies provide facilitating services for marketing channels, such as the provision of infrastructure, market information and documentation support. Examples include the National Agricultural Marketing Development Corporation (NAMDEVCO) in Trinidad and Tobago and the New Guyana Marketing Corporation.

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