§ 780.916 “Place of * * * first marketing.”

A “place of * * * first marketing” is the second of the two types of places to which the freshly harvested fruits or vegetables may be transported from the farm under the exemption provided by section 13(b)(16). Typically, a place of first marketing is a farmer's market of the kind to which “delivery to market” is made within the meaning of section 3(f) of the Act when a farmer delivers such commodities there as an incident to or in conjunction with his own farming operations. Under section 13(b)(16), of course, there is no requirement that the transportation be performed by or for a farmer or as an incident to or in conjunction with any farming operations. A place of first marketing may be described in general terms as a place at which the freshly harvested fruits or vegetables brought from the farm are first delivered for marketing, such as a packing plant or an establishment of a wholesaler or other distributor, cooperative marketing agency, or processor to which the fruits or vegetables are first brought from the farm and delivered for sale. A place of first marketing may also be a place of first processing (see Mitchell v. Budd, 350 U.S. 473) but it need not be. The “first place of packing” to which the just-harvested fruits or vegetables are transported from the farm is intended to be included. (See 107 Cong. Rec. (daily ed.) p. 4523.) Transportation to places which are not first processing or first marketing places is not exempt.