“As the calendar counts down to the end of summer, locally grown produce continues to feature in retail ads across the country. Late-summer favorites including squash, grapes, stone fruit, and salads shared ad space with back-to-school promotions as more and more districts return to the classroom. Lunchbox favorites such as apples, clementines and baby carrots were promoted alongside other easy-to-pack grocery options like snack crackers and juice boxes.
Total ad numbers this week were 311,275, a 6% increase from last week’s 293,581. The total for the same week last year was 5% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 179,508 (58% of all ads), onions and potatoes 12,830 (4%), vegetables 113,065 (36%), herbs 785, ornamentals 3739, and hemp 1348. The number of ads for organic produce was 46,127, 15% of total ads.
The following are the 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 mangoes at 58%, Hass avocados at 40%, apple juice and black grapes both at 24%, yellow peaches at 23%, nectarines at 22%, Bartlett pears and plums both at 21%, organic red and white seedless grapes at 17%, red seedless grapes at 14%, white nectarines and pint blueberries both at 13%, strawberries at 12% and white grapes at 11%.
Significant price increases for vegetables included only sweet corn at 23% and yellow squash at 15%. There were no significant price decreases for any commodity group, and no significant price increases for onions and potatoes.
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*This article is excerpted from freshplaza.com website, published on 22nd August 2022
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