A question from Rick

A question from our good friend Rick Bella of America's Second Harvest. I think of the USDA's Agricultural Prices report first. Does anyone have any other thoughts for Rick on cost comparisons?



Hi Tom,
I know that you track produce f.o.b. costs over past years and usually post those to the blog.

I have pasted below our experience with costs over the past 5-years and wonder if you have comparable data in the categories listed.

Naturally, packs and sizes varied but we’d like to just get a feel for what the industry did on like items listed. Can you assist or point me in a direction to obtain this type of data? Some of our own increases were due to program pack changes moving to more retail sized packaging which naturally costs more.

Thanks much and I hope we can get together at United. Rick

F.O.B. cost per pound - top 10	2003-2007 percentage change	4 year Compound annual growth rate
Potatoes	46.0%	9.9%
Apples	6.1%	1.5%
Watermelon	28.2%	6.4%
Onions	103.0%	19.4%
Yams	106.7%	19.9%
Carrots	29.1%	6.6%
Cabbage	36.7%	8.1%
Oranges	-56.6%	-18.9%
Pears	270.0%	38.7%
Sweet Corn	81.0%	16.0%