Columbia River Strawberry Growers Compete Against Themselves
In 1914, Kennewick farmers were losing profits not to outside competitors, but to their own self-defeating price-cutting tactics.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Gathering such information of the marketing situation as is possible from an outside viewpoint, we are impressed with three significant facts in connection with the sale of the 1914 strawberry crop. Fact No. 1: The demand for the Columbia River Valley Clark’s Seedling is good and the trade is eager for them at any reasonable price. Fact No. 2: The prices which have been obtained during the week have not been satisfactory to the grower. Fact No. 3: The Northwest markets have cleared of California berries and the only serious competitor which the Columbia River Clark’s Seedling has met has been other Columbia River Clark’s Seedlings. 'We have plenty of orders for all of our offerings but we simply can’t hold up the price in the face of the price-cutting and consignments of the other fellow.' This is the explanation that you can hear any time of day, any day at any or all of the marketing agencies in the city. Somebody is cutting the price and shooting the market to pieces. That, then, is the trouble. Who’s guilty? California isn’t cutting the price. Hood River isn’t. Milton-Freewater isn’t. Since we can’t kick the blame down into California or over across the Columbia, it seems that we will have to set it up in our own door yard, a monument to our folly, and acknowledge that Kennewick is cutting the price of Kennewick berries and indulging in the expensive pastime of horse play. Whether the association is getting better prices than the exchange or vice versa, in no wise alters the fact that the Kennewick berries are not bringing what they should and what the trade will stand. And furthermore, the berries will never bring what they should, until the crop is marketed as a unit at one price and under one control. The solution rests with the grower.
“It seems that we will have to set it up in our own door yard, a monument to our folly, and acknowledge that Kennewick is cutting the price of Kennewick berries.”
Kennewick's historical struggle to organize its agricultural market reflects the ongoing tensions in modern farming, where producers balance the benefits of cooperative bargaining against the pressures of individual competition. More than a century later, the tension between cooperative stability and competitive price-cutting remains a cornerstone of the regional economy.
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