Buying and Selling: Getting
Cherries into a Pie
Career & Technical Education Introduction
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Purpose
Students will use cherries to examine
commodity markets and examine
workplace tasks and concepts in
agriculture.
Time: One or two 50-minute
class periods
Level: Secondary
Materials
‰‰ The Cherrie Pie Informational
Chart (Worksheet A) transparency
‰‰ 36 Buyer Cards and 36 Seller
Cards (Worksheet B and C)
‰‰ Individual Score Sheet—two per
student; (Worksheet D)
‰‰ Transaction Record Worksheet—
one transparency per class
(Worksheet E)
‰‰ This activity requires a class of at
least 25 students to be effective.
Up to 50 or 60 students may
be involved if the room is large
enough.
‰‰ Software (such as MicroSoft
PowerPoint and Excel) or graph
paper that will allow students to
create charts and graphs
‰‰ “Pit” game (optional)
Background
This activity is designed to convey to students the experience of buying
and selling in a competitive market. Although most product and service markets are not as competitive as the cherry market used in this activity, students
can begin to understand how prices are generally determined in any market.
Understanding how the forces of supply and demand generate market prices
will help students explain why some products have relatively high prices and
others have relatively low prices.
Tart cherries can be processed into pie cherries or juice, or can be frozen
or dried. They are full of antioxidants and contain other important nutrients
such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries), vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate.* In 2009, Utah produced
about 23 million pounds of tart cherries, making it second in the nation behind
Michigan, who produced a whopping 220 million pounds.** Farmers and
others involved in agriculture need to understand how the commodity market
works to make better financial decisions. Consumers also benefit by understanding why a certain product may cost more in a particular season. (See
“Cherry Fact Sheet” in this packet for an overhead master of this information).
The game “Pit” may be played to introduce students to how commodities are
bought and sold in the market place.
*Source: choosecherries.com
**Source: National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
Activity Procedures
1. Clear the center of the room and designate it as the marketplace. Place
the Cherry Fact Sheet on an overhead projector and briefly review the
information.
2. Select one student to be the “Keeper” who will distribute the Buyer and
Seller cards (cards cut from Worksheets B and C).
3. Explain that the goal of the game for both buyers and sellers is to make a
profit.
4. Select one student to be the “Recorder,” or inform the students that you
(the teacher) will be the “Recorder.” The Recorder will record all the buying/selling transactions on the Transaction Record Worksheet (Worksheet
E.) Make a transparency master of the Transaction Record Worksheet
and place it on an overhead projector and record the transactions with
an overhead marker, or, as an alternative, use your computer, keyboard,
projector and the fillable PDF included at the end of this lesson to record
the transactions.
5. Divide the class into two equal groups. One group will be Sellers, one
group Buyers. Explain that Buyers will be buyers throughout the game,
and Sellers will be sellers throughout the game.
6. Provide each student with an Individual Score Sheet (Worksheet D) and
request that each student record his or her transactions as they are made.
Review details on the score sheet if necessary.
Utah Agriculture in the Classroom
7. Ask the Keeper to distribute one card to each student (a Seller Card to
www.agclassroom.org/ut
1
sellers and Buyer Card to buyers); the amount on the card should be kept
secret.
8. Buyer and Sellers will engage in three 10-minute rounds of trading. Announce a one-minute warning before the end of each round. (Trading
time may be reduced to accommodate short class periods so long as each
round runs for the same length of time.)
9. Explain that Buyers and Sellers can buy and sell in multiples of $5.00 and
$10.00 only, and that they may not get the price they are seeking but that
they should make as many deals as they can during the session. Explain
that it is permissible to take a loss in order to get a new Buyer or Seller
Card. Do not give away the fact that the students who engage in the most
transactions will have the largest profits. This fact will be “discovered” during and upon the completion of the activity.
10.After each transaction, students should record their transactions on the
Cherry Pie Individual Score Sheet and report the transaction to the Recorder to record the deal. Then both the Seller and Buyer get new cards
from the Keeper and they re-enter the marketplace. (It is a good idea to
have the Keeper and the Recorder located in the same part of the classroom.)
11.After each trading round, ask students to figure their net losses or gains.
12.During non-trading time between round 1 and round 2, direct students’
attention to the market prices on the Transaction Record Worksheet. Say
that it contains useful information for them. Do not elaborate.
Conduct post-activity discussion:
• What price are the cherries most frequently sold at in Round 1? Round
2? Round 3?
• In which round was there the greatest spread in price?
• Why did the prices become more clustered? Answer: Increasing
competition is the most important cause for the clustering of prices. This
phenomenon represents the tendency of a competitive market to move
toward an equilibrium price.
• Who determined the “market price” for cherries—buyers or sellers?
Answer: Both buyers and sellers interacting in the marketplace.
• How did supply and demand (sellers and buyers) influence price?
Answer: Sellers tried to get higher prices, buyers tried to get lower
prices. Because there was competition among members of each group,
no one had control over the price.
• Why were some students able to make more total profits than others?
Possible answer: They were able to conclude many transactions, each of
which yielded a small profit.
13.Using data from the Transaction Record Worksheet, ask students to create
a bar graph either on graph paper or utilizing classroom software.
Results
1. Students should have gained a better understanding about how prices are
determined for the things they buy. They should be able to explain how
supply and demand affect price and that sometimes producers are price
takers—selling below cost to gain market share in volume.
2. Students should be able to identify other commodities that would be
bought and sold like the cherries (most agricultural
commodities).
Utah Agriculture in the Classroom
2
www.agclassroom.org/ut
Additional Activities (Day 2—Optional)
Procedures for a 4th round:
1. Procedures for a 4th round: This round is identical to the first day’s activity
except that the number of Seller Cards of each denomination used in the
game is cut in half. Also, deals must take place within 5 minutes.
2. Allow time to record gains/losses.
3. Post-activity discussion: Did prices go up or down? (They should have
gone up.) Why did the prices change as they did? Can the students relate
this price change to price behavior in the national economy?
Procedures for a 5th round:
4. Put in as many Seller Cards as in the first three rounds, but cut the number
of Buyer Cards of each denomination in half and follow the same directions as in Round 4.
5. Deals must take place in 5 minutes.
6. Allow time to record gains/losses.
7. Post-game discussion (may require a third class period):
-Did prices go up or down during Round 5? (They should have gone
down.)
-Does this suggest a method of reducing inflation? How might it be accomplished? What negative effect could occur using this method? (Loss of
jobs, loss of income for business.)
•Have students graph market deals for Rounds 3, 4, and 5, and write
generalizations about what the graphs show.
•Review equilibrium concepts:
- Price equilibrium (price at which most transactions take place) occurs
between $50-$65.
- Equilibrium price tends to go up when an item in demand is scarce, as
in Round 4 (fewer sellers relative to buyers).
- Equilibrium price tends to drop when an item is in oversupply, as in
Round 5 (fewer buyers relative to sellers).
Evaluation
1. Assess quality of student response to post-activity questions (oral or written). Try to avoid grading based upon the amount of profit each student
earned.
2. Use the Agriculture in the Classroom “Supply and Demand” activity to
check student learning (see Links section).
Links
• “Supply and Demand: What If” Activity:
https://utah.agclassroom.org/teachercenter/index.cfm?controller=main
&action=lpsearch&lpID=411&searchGrade.gradeID=8&searchSub.
subjectID=4
Utah Agriculture in the Classroom
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www.agclassroom.org/ut
Cherry Fact Sheet
Worksheet C
Cherries are full of antioxidants and contain other
important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times
more than blueberries or strawberries), vitamin C,
potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate.*
In 2009, Utah produced about 23 million pounds of
tart cherries, making it second in the nation behind
Michigan, who produced a whopping 220 million
pounds.**
Cherries can be harvested by hand, but many large
operations use a special machine to shake the tree,
dropping cherries into large collection bins that are
afterward taken to storage facilities.
Though cherry production can vary from year to year,
an average mature tree will produce 100-120 pounds
of cherries in a year.
After tart cherries are purchased on the market place,
they can be distributed and sold fresh in grocery stores
or can be dried, frozen, or processed into juice.
Approximately 5 pounds of fresh cherries will yield 1
pound of dried cherries.
*Source: choosecherries.com
**Source: National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)
Buyer Cards
Worksheet B
Make 4 Buyer Cards of each denomination: $90, $80, $30, $20 (16 cards)
Make 5 Buyer Cards of each denomination: $70, $60, $50, $40 (20 cards)
Buyer Card
Buyer Card
You are buying one bin of
cherries.
You are buying one bin of
cherries.
Try to pay the lowest price
possible. You should not pay
more than
Try to pay the lowest price
possible. You should not pay
more than
$______________________
$______________________
unless you decide
to take a loss.
unless you decide
to take a loss.
Buyer Card
Buyer Card
You are buying one bin of
cherries.
You are buying one bin of
cherries.
Try to pay the lowest price
possible. You should not pay
more than
Try to pay the lowest price
possible. You should not pay
more than
$______________________
$______________________
unless you decide
to take a loss.
unless you decide
to take a loss.
Seller Cards
Worksheet C
Make 4 Seller Cards of each denomination: $100, $90, $40, $30 (16 Cards)
Make 5 Seller Cards of each denomination: $80, $70, $60, $50 (20 cards)
Seller Card
Seller Card
You are selling one bin of
cherries.
You are selling one bin of
cherries.
Try to get the highest price,
but you should not take less
than
Try to get the highest price,
but you should not take less
than
$______________________
$______________________
unless you decide
to take a loss.
unless you decide
to take a loss.
Seller Card
Seller Card
You are selling one bin of
cherries.
You are selling one bin of
cherries.
Try to get the highest price,
but you should not take less
than
Try to get the highest price,
but you should not take less
than
$______________________
$______________________
unless you decide
to take a loss.
unless you decide
to take a loss.
Name ___________________________________
Individual Score Sheet
Worksheet D
Circle One: Buyer
Seller
Directions: For each transaction, when you get a card, enter the price in column B. After you make a
transaction, record the price in column C of the same row. You tally the gains, losses, and totals at the end
of the trading activity. Tally your gains and losses by taking the difference between your transaction price
and the price on your card for each transaction. For example: if a seller sells at a price higher than the price
on his/her card he/she makes a gain; if lower, he/she takes a loss. If a buyer buys at a lower price than his/
her card price, he/she makes a gain; if higher, he/she takes a loss. Disregard the break-evens. Total up your
gains and losses and mark them in the appropriate places at the bottom. Your net gain or loss is the difference between the sum of the gains and the sum of the losses. Indicate where rounds 1, 2, and 3 ended by
a mark in column A.
Transaction
Number
(A)
Price on
Your Card
(B)
Transaction
Price
(C)
Gains
Losses
(D)
(D)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Total number of transactions
________________ Total Gain __________ Total Loss __________ Net Gain or Loss (circle one)
$20
$25
$30
$40
$35
$45
$50
$55
$70
$65
$60
$90
$85
$80
$75
$95
$100
Price
Round 1
(___ minutes)
Round 2
(___ minutes)
Round 3
(___ minutes)
Round 4
(___ minutes)
Place tally marks beside the agreed-upon price when the seller reports it to you.
Only one tally mark should be recorded for each transaction.
Worksheet E
Transaction Record Worksheet
Round 5
(___ minutes)