Systems and Costs for Marketing Cantaloupes

Excerpts from the report: The purpose of this report is to describe the systems for marketing cantaloupes from grower to retail store and to determine the costs for the major methods used at harvest, transport, and delivery. Caution should be used in applying these costs to obtain a total cost figure for the movement of cantaloupes from grower to retailer. Because the data were gathered in different parts of the country and at different times of the year, use of the same methods at different locations may give slightly different results. Cost data for methods within a phase of the marketing system, where these methods are interchangeable, could be used to compare the cost of one method with another. Six harvesting, methods were evaluated: • Bulk truck with rear ramps • Bulk truck with loader • Low-back bulk truck with rear steps • Flatbed wagon and baskets • Flatbed wagon and bins • Self-propelled moving conveyor. Costs were measured for labor, equipment, and materials in worker-hours, equipment-hours, and dollars per function performed. The equipment-hour requirements were converted to costs by the use of hourly ownership and operating costs.