This week, retailers offered the best of both worlds on the cusp of a new season. Ripe late summer cantaloupes, stone fruits, honeydews, cucumbers, zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and grapes were plentiful, many grown locally. Pumpkins arrived in stores this week, joining new crop hard squash, cabbage, pears, and apples to signal the beginning of autumn.
September brings the last of the students back to the classroom, and stores were ready with school supplies and lunchtime snacks like tangerines, grape tomatoes, and baby carrots. Total ad numbers this week were 266,300, an 11% decrease from last week's total of 298,958. The total for the same week last year was 3% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 144,620 (54% of all ads), onions and potatoes 17,566 (7%), vegetables 98,487 (37%), herbs 428, ornamentals 1,905, and hemp 3,766. The number of ads for organic produce was 42,916, 16% of total ads.
The following are the prices of major advertised items (3,000 plus ads) this week, compared to the same week last year. Significant increases in price for fruit this week included Honeycrisp apples (per lb.) at 23%, yellow peaches at 19%, seedless grapes (red at 15%, white at 14%), cantaloupes at 11%, and plums at 11%. Significant decreases included tangerines (3 lb. bag) at 17%, blackberries at 15%, and avocados at 14%.
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Source: mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov