Once farmers decide to sell their crops, they have to decide how to transport them. The Family Farm Project owns this page.

Directions

Farmers usually use waterways, trucks and railroads to transport their crops to a market place. Read the information on the page to help you answer the following questions.

Go to History of Ag Markets.

Study Questions for transporting

• Over time, how has the transporting of farm good changed?
• What happens when the number of farm products a farm can produce goes up, but not as many people want to buy the products? How do farmers respond to this problem?
• It is 1108 miles from Des Moines, Iowa to New York City. How long would it take a truck driving 65 mph to get from Des Moines to New York? If gas is $1.50 per gallon and the truck can drive 10 miles per gallon, how much would it cost to deliver the farm products?
• If a farmer takes 8 bushels of corn to the local market and receives $40, how much money per bushel does the farmer receive? If the same farmer wanted to sell his products to a market 50 miles away and he has to pay $1.25 for gas and $15 for a driver and he still only gets $145, how much money per bushel does the farmer receive?

Did you know that the majority of the money that we pay for our food does not go to the farmer?

Milk sells for $1.95 per gallon retail. The farmer received $1.13.

The farmer received 4 cents for the corn used to make this cereal.

Bread sells for $1.50 lb retail. The farmer received 5 cents for the wheat used in this loaf.