Excerpts from the report: Date consumption in the United States averaged approximately 70 million pounds a year in 1954-56, or slightly less than one-half pound per capita. Imports, chiefly from Iraq, provided approximately 60 percent of this amount. The date palm requires a very hot, dry climate which limits the commercial production of dates in the United States principally to certain desert valleys of southern California. The relatively young domestic date industry increased the production of dates rather steadily from 1 million pounds in 1926 to an average of over 40 million pounds in 1955-58. Marketing problems of the date industry have grown more important in recent years as production increased sharply and prices fell. This report presents information on marketing practices and on packing plant organization and costs as a basis for consideration of possible adjustments by members of the industry. The 18 plants supplying information for this study handled 90 percent of the California date crop, with volume per plant varying from less than 10,000 pounds to several million pounds per year. The three largest plants handled approximately 70 percent of the total crop.