35. The STATE FARMERS' MARKET

(open day and night), occupying a 16-acre plot of State-owned land at the junction of Murphy Ave. and Sylvan Rd., SW., is one of a system of eight markets built and operated by the Georgia Department of Agriculture since 1936. This State-directed marketing is part of a concerted effort to encourage a diversification of Georgia's farm produce, to lower consumer costs, and to solve the problem of distribution. For this reason operations are confined to the wholesale selling of foodstuffs only.

Although the market was established primarily for the distribution of Georgia products, trucks from almost every State in the Union, and even from Mexico, bring vegetables and fruits here for sale. The market has been operated on its present site only since April 1941. having first been set up on a smaller tract at Courtland and Gilmer Streets. Within the market area the streets are named for State officials such as Eugene Talmadge, present (1942) Governor of Georgia, and Thomas E. Linder, Commissioner of Agriculture. Large open sheds are used by the farmers and truckers, who spread their produce in rented stalls on both sides of the long concrete runways. The brokers and wholesale dealers occupy low brick buildings with open fronts, over which hang signs bearing the names of the proprietors. Occasionally there is a name such as "Jardina" or "Cerniglia", and sometimes among the sun-reddened impassive faces there appears a dark, mobile face indicating Greek or Italian ancestry.

Trucks loaded with produce pull in at all hours of the day and night. All activities are directed by a market master who, with the aid of several assistants and a loud-speaker system, keeps the market in smooth operation. Much of the trading is done by barter, one kind of foodstuff being traded for another. Produce so acquired is sold by the truckers on return trips to their home districts. The biggest trading period occurs during the first days of the week, when the lot teems with activity. The piles of vegetables, the net bags stuffed with oranges, and the hanging bunches of green bananas form a colorful background for the shifting figures of the buyers who pass back and forth examining the produce. As buying slackens, the truckers, dressed in clothes which vary from ordinary overalls to near-cowboy outfits, gather in little groups to smoke, play checkers, or discuss the weather and crops. Others shuffle around the lot joking fellow drivers about the quality of their produce while urging buyers to look at their own foodstuffs. A few stretch out in their trucks or on the platform for a brief nap after an all-night drive, leaving a companion or a watchful dog on the alert to give notice of approaching buyers. All, however, keep a listening ear cocked for the raucous instructions and announcements which blare sporadically from the loud-speakers installed throughout the grounds.

The season from Thanksgiving to Christmas and New Year is one of intense activity. The number of trucks roaring in and out is greatly increased and wholesale buyers throng the lot. Foodstuffs are sold quickly and packed in crates, bushel baskets, and gunny sacks to make room for the constantly incoming loads.

More than 200,000 trucks visit the market annually, while the yearly volume of trade amounts to approximately $15,000,000. The venture has proved so successful that the idea has been adopted by several other States.

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