Economic and Marketing INFORMATION
FOR
INDIANA
FARMERS
Prepared by Members of the Agricultural Staff of Purdue  University,  Lafayette,  Indiana, August 27,   1956
How to Get
Higher Prices for your Eggs
by
V. W. RUTTAN and W. F.  LAIRD, Agricultural Economics*
PRODUCERS who receive the most for their eggs (a)
sell to the highest paying buyer in their area, (b)
sell on a graded basis, and (c) produce high quality
(90% A or better) eggs. But a good job of marketing
also involves giving careful consideration to the value of
services which buyers provide for their customers.
These are the findings of a 1955 Purdue study of egg
marketing and pricing conducted in three counties located in Northern, Central and Southern Indiana. The
study deals only with factors associated with prices farmers received for eggs. It does not analyze the costs incurred by farmers in order to obtain higher prices for eggs.
The reader will therefore need to compare the possible
higher returns he might get with the costs of the extra
effort necessary to obtain the higher prices. This is the
only way to determine the real profitability of following
the suggestions outlined in this report.
Three Ways to Get Higher Prices for Your Eggs
1. Shop for the highest paying buyer in your area.
The most important way for most producers to get higher prices for eggs is to choose more carefully among
available buyers. This is true of producers who sell
on an ungraded basis as well as those who sell on a
graded basis (Table 1). In general the price differences
among dealers in any given area were wider than the
differences between areas. There was, however, a tendency for the dealers in our sample from the Northern
area to pay more for comparable quality eggs than the
dealers in Central and Southern Indiana (Table 3).
Table 1. Average Prices Paid for Eggs by Different
Buyers in Selected Counties.
 April 18-30  July 25-August 6
Ungraded egg buyers
lowest prices
highest prices
6rad^d_egg_buyers
lowest prices
highest prices
North       Central
South        North
Cents Per Dozen
Central       South
30.3
32.0
26.7
29.6
27.0
30.7
35.0
38.9
20.0
24.0
19.0
23.6
33.1
29.5
33.7
28.2
30.6
32.0
37.1
28.4
37.4
28.6
30.2
*< // you produce quality eggs, sell to a buyer who
^cognizes quality differentials. Most producers can increase egg receipts by selling to buyers who recognize
Slze and quality differentials in their pricing.   In Table 2
'Based on  Purdue Agricultural   Experiment  Station  Project  No. 755.
the average prices paid by the highest paying buyer of
ungraded eggs are compared with the average prices that
producers would have received for eggs of the same size
and quality if sold on a graded basis. Receipts would
have been increased by selling on a graded basis in five
of the six comparisons presented in Table 2. The exception occurred in the North area during the second
period (July 25-August 6). In the North and Central
areas a number of the highest paying buyers among those
who do not purchase on the basis of grade pay more
for high quality eggs by spot checking the eggs from
their producers. Producers who consistently market low
quality eggs are either dropped or are paid a lower price
than other producers.
Table 2. Prices Paid by Highest Paying Buyer of
Ungraded Eggs and Calculated Average Price for
Same Eggs if Sold to Highest Paying Buyer of Graded
Eggs.
April 18-30
July 25-August 6
North      Central
Highest   Paying   Buyer
of Ungraded Eggs      32.5 29.6
Highest   Paying   Buyer
of   Graded   Eggs 36.4 32.4
South        North
Cents Per Dozen
Central       South
30.5
31.0
38.9
37.3
24.0
33.2
23.6
25.5