Instruction: As a Filipino Citizen, make a reflection paper for this chapter on how to cope with the current problems in Agricultural Marketing (600 words). Grading and standardization is a marketing function which facilitates the movement of produce. Grade standards for commodities are laid down rst and then the commodities are sorted out according to the accepted standards. Standardization means the determination of the standards to be established for different commodities. Standards are established on the basis of certain Characteristics - such as weight, size, coior, appearance, texture, moisture content, staple length, amount of foreign matter, ripeness, sweetness, taste, chemical content, etc. These characteristics, on the basis of which products are standardized, are termed grade standards. Thus, standardization means making the quality specifications of the grades uniform among buyers and sellers over space and over time. The determination of Standards are: Objectives of ldeal Standards; Criteria for good standards; 0n the other hand, grading means the sorting of the unlike lots of the produce into different lots according to the quality specifications laid down. Each lot has substantially the same characteristics in so far as quality is concerned. It is a method of dividing products into certain groups or lots in accordance with predetermined standards. Grading follows standardization. It is a sub-function of standardization. Grading offers the following advantages to different groups of persons: (1) Grading before sale enables farmers to get a higher price for their produce. Grading also serves as an incentive to producers to market the produce of better quality. (2] Grading facilitates marketing, for the size, color, qualities and other grade designations of the product are well known to both the parties, and there is no need on the part of the seller to give any assurance about the quality of the product. (3) Grading widens the market for the product, for buying can take place between the parties located at distant places on the telephone without any inspection of the quality of the product. However, there are problems in developing and using grades. Grading schemes are not easy to adopt and implement. They have an impact on all three major participants in the marketing system: consumers, farmers and the food marketing rms or intermediaries. With each of these groups, there may not be complete agreement that grades should, or not be used. Between these groups the areas of conict on grades may even be greater. The following problems are: (1) Number of grades of classes, Presumably, the desirable number of grades should be such that each grade represents a completely homogeneous product with respect to the relevant grade characteristics. For many farm products, this would imply so many grades that it would be completely unworkable. One guide for number and limits for each grade is that each grade should include enough ofthe total industry supply to be meaningful in terms of price determination for the grade, (2) Grade Terminology, it can be very misleading. For products with homogeneous demand, the terminology should connote something about the ordinal ranking of quality. Yet there seems to be little standardization in grading among products. Quality is denoted by numbers for some products. For example, grades 1, 2 and 3 denote qualities of sh and garlic. Quality is denoted by letters for some products, for example, grades A, B, etc. for frozen poultry. Names are used for others such as good" "reject" and "puffy" for cabbage. Obviously, this seemingly limitless range or grade terminology can be confusing and, as a result, useless to consumers that buy all ofese Although many benets of grades have been cited, products. (3) Quality Deterioration, natural deterioration of quality over time is common among many unprocessed farm products. Thus, products that meet top quality standards when they leave the farm, or rst handlers can fail to do so when they are sold to the nal consumer. One might argue that this can be solved by grading at a later point in the marketing channel. This raises the question of how producers of quality products can be rewarded and encouraged to continue quality production. Perhaps the solution is a dual level of grading - grading on the farm and grading at or nearthe retail level ofthe market. (1,) Relevant Ouality Characteristics, farm products have numerous quality dimensions that affect their acceptability by users and consumers. Actual grade is a composite of all the quality factors included in the grade. Both determination or relevant grade factors and measurements may be problem areas. Some of the quality characteristics are quite objective and can be easily measured - test weight per volume, moisture content, and product damage, to name a few. Others are more subjective, such as tenderness, avor, and texture. For subjective quality traits, grade may be less than accurate measurements of quality