Introduction

This chapter explains the concept of marketing, emphasizing the importance of the focus on the consumer. In that respect, marketing differs from selling which emphasizes the exchange process. Despite the evident importance of the livestock and meat marketing system, it has a bad name with livestock producers. Serving the needs of consumers is the role of marketing. A marketing margin of 75 percent means that, on average, for all products, consumers value marketing services by a ratio of three to one over the value of the raw product at the farm gate. As the name implies, technical inefficiency refers to the technical or physical aspects of marketing. Since marketing is more than exchange, it involves more components, each of which add value. In total, value added adds 75 cents for every 25 cents worth of food at the farm gate.