Excerpt from the report Preface: Much public attention has focused on rising food prices as part of the overall rise in the cost of living. This report on marketing margins for fall potatoes is part of a broad program of continuing research designed to provide information on components of farm-retail price spreads for food products. The marketing margin is the difference between the price the grower receives and the price the consumer pays for potatoes. This total margin consists of the costs for packing, transporting, wholesaling, and retailing potatoes and the profits of firms engaged in marketing them.