Vegetables and Melon Outlook - USDA ERS

From the USDA ERS Vegetables and Melon Outlook report issued today, an excerpt:

The outlook for fresh vegetables this winter indicates reduced acreage and supplies. At the same time, demand is expected to be soft as consumers remain conservative with regard to away from home eating and premium products such as hothouse and organic vegetables. Although the winter price outlook is uncertain (given average weather), it favors steady to slightly higher prices compared with the relatively modest levels experienced a year earlier. As a result, growers and shippers may face a cost-price squeeze, with input prices this winter still relatively high, especially for fertilizer, chemicals, land rent, and seed.

Behavior modification - USDA ERS study

Doug Powell linked to this USDA ERS study in the Food Safety Network email. From the summary:


College students who preselected their meals from a menu board before seeing them did not always make healthier food choices than students who made their selections in line where they could see the food. In fact, viewing led to significantly greater consumption of healthier foods— salad and turkey sandwiches—and significantly less consumption of less healthy foods—French fries and caffeine. Viewing brownies, however, also significantly increased brownie consumption. The impact of viewing different foods may have more to do with how attractive they are than how healthy they are.

Equal time - in defense of eating frozen fruits and vegetables

Here is the column from John Suave in response to my earlier blog post "Frozen rising." As it appears on the opinion page of the Dec. 15 issue of The Packer.


In defense of eating frozen fruits and vegetables
John Sauve, Swardlick Marketing Group
In a recent Fresh Talk (www.freshtalk.blogspot.com) blog item, National Editor Tom Karst reported on a Mintel forecast that frozen fruits and vegetables are likely to experience a significant increase in consumption over the next few years.
Good news for the produce industry... and the health of Americans.
However, to that report Tom added the following comment: "Frozen may have its advantages, but it has one clear disadvantage -- it is a second-rate product compared with fresh. Consumers will always prefer fresh over frozen, no matter how many new ‘innovative freezing technologies' are rolled out. End of discussion."
End of discussion?
I hope not, Tom. Unless of course you don't want anyone to offer a slightly different perspective than yours about frozen fruits and veggies being second rate to fresh.
Frozen is different than fresh, yes, but not second rate. And by the way, the produce industry (including the growers, farmers, processors, suppliers, The Packer, etc.) can't afford to denigrate any form of its magnificent products that consumers need to triple in consumption to reach their recommended daily dose of our beautiful array of colors.
Fresh, frozen, canned and dried all can and must play a valuable role in the healthy lifestyles and needs of people.
Now, in support of frozen, I won't say anything that might imply frozen superiority versus fresh -- even relative to the finding that frozen could possibly be more nutritious given the ongoing oxidation of fresh in the produce department (oops, that one slipped out!).
And I certainly don't want to mention value in these tough economic times (slipped again).
In whatever healthy form they take, all produce, fruits, veggies, nuts and legumes are in the "good stuff" family. And we all need to consume more. It's a universal truth.
The produce industry and the government have the responsibility to figure out how to get consumers to eat more fruits and veggies, for both their own personal health and for the economic health of our country by helping to reduce the escalating cost of medical coverage.
We've all read those statistics.
Interestingly, we don't need to look far to find another food group working on a similar issue.
Our friends in the dairy industry are finally plowing millions into advertising and promotion of the health benefits of milk -- something they overlooked for quite a few years while building awareness with their mustaches.
They learned the hard way that celebrity-endorsed milk mustaches didn't move much more of their product. Now they have rediscovered and reinvented their health story, promoting milk as a nutrient-rich food that provides a healthy dose of nine essential nutrients.
Good for them. They're doing a nice job delivering a great health message, and it's going to work.
As part of the new Fruits & Veggies -- More Matters communication strategy, The Produce for Better Health Foundation is now pushing (as much as they can with their limited budget) that "all forms count" in the quest to help consumers reach their daily fruits and vegetables goal.
All forms. So why would we even imply that frozen is second rate, in any fashion? This industry has a big job and a big responsibility to move everyone to eat more fruits and veggies, in as many ways and forms as makes sense for them to do so.
Tom, I know you probably meant for someone to react to your "second rate and end of discussion" commentary. You knew someone would come to the defense of frozen fruit and veggies. I also know that I do not really need to list all the great attributes and benefits of our naturally colored fruits and veggies, in their frozen, protected, convenient and healthy state.
Rather, I do need to re-emphasize the responsibility and the challenge the produce industry faces to figure out how to get people to buy more and eat more fruits and veggies.
Fruits and veggies naturally own the healthiest segment of MyPyramid. We're allowing others to take that positioning away from us in the supermarket -- like the pharmacy section, which seems to own the words "Health & Wellness."
Shouldn't those words be in the produce department?
Implying anything is second rate about our entire remarkably healthy and colorful product line doesn't help the cause.
We need Fruits & Veggies -- More Matters in as many cool colors and forms as possible.
John Sauve is managing partner of the food and nutrition division at the Swardlick Marketing Group, Portland, Maine, which represents clients that promote fresh and frozen produce. E-mail jsauve@swardlick.com.

November Average Retail Prices - Deflation express

Big declines in gasoline prices in the November consumer price index, as the average retail price drops from $3.20 to $2.21 per gallon. From BLS, news of a record decline:


The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 1.9 percent in November, before seasonal adjustment, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The November level of 212.425 (1982-84=100) was 1.1 percent higher than in November 2007.

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) decreased 2.3 percent in November, prior to seasonal adjustment. The November level of 207.296 (1982-84=100) was 0.7 percent higher than in November 2007. The fruits and vegetables index also declined for the third month in a row, with the decrease being driven by a decline in the fresh fruits index

From CNN

Tuesday's report is just further indication that consumers have dramatically shifted their spending habits in the past few months, opting to save money or pay down debt rather than spend it. A separate report released by the Federal Reserve last week showed American household debt fell for the first time ever in the third quarter, as net worth dropped by the largest amount on record based on data going back to 1951.


Here is the scorecard on produce commodities.

Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee Set for Feb. 24-25

Let's hope the USDA pilot program for fresh cut apple slices is working well by the time the committee meets. FVIAC meeting Feb. 24-25 in DC: From the Federal Register yesterday, background on the committee:

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. II), the Secretary of Agriculture established the Committee in August 2001 to examine the full spectrum of issues faced by the fruit and vegetable industry and to provide suggestions and ideas to the Secretary on how USDA can tailor its programs to meet the fruit and vegetable industry’s needs. The Committee was re-chartered in July 2003, June 2005 and again in May 2007 with new members appointed by USDA from industry nominations. This is the Committee’s final meeting under the current 2-year charter. AMS Deputy Administrator for Fruit and Vegetable Programs, Robert C. Keeney, serves as the Committee’s Executive Secretary. Representatives from USDA mission areas and other government agencies affecting the fruit and vegetable industry will be called upon to participate in the Committee’s meetings as determined by the Committee Chairperson. AMS is giving notice of the Committee meeting to the public so that they may attend and present their recommendations. Reference the date and address section of this announcement for the time and place of the meeting. Topics of discussion at the Committee meeting will include: Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act license fees, labor and immigration legislation, the National Organic Program, and a review of products, including fresh-cut items, that USDA purchases for the National School Lunch Program and other domestic outlets. Additional agenda items can be expected.

Produce promotions -

Here are selected advertised Kansas City area produce promotions from Dec. 17 to 24:

Hen House
Asparagus:$1.99/lb
Celery: 79 cents/each
Regal Comice pears: $2.49/lb
Dole 16 oz. bag pineapple chunks: $3.99
Green Giant green beans: two 12-oz. packages for $5
Scarlotta Red or Brazilian Festival white seedless grapes: $1.99/lb
Red raspberries, blackberries, currants or blueberries: $2.99 each

Aldi
Red seedless grapes: 79 cents/lb
Sweet potatoes: 3 lb bag 99 cents
Celery: 48 cents
Mixed fruit: 5 lb bag $2.99

Price Chopper
Washington red delicious apples: 79 cents/lb
Del Monte gold pineapple: $3.99
Chilean bing cherries: $3.99/lb
Scarlotta red seedless grapes: $1.99/lb
California Cuties: $6.99/5 lb box
Sweet potatoes: 79 cents/lb

Wal Mart
Navel oranges: 38 cents each
Pineapple: $2.84


HyVee
California clementines: 5 lb box $5.88
Red seedless grapes: $1.88/lb
Disney navel oranges: 79 cents lb
Cherries: $4.99/lb
Asparagus: $2.99/lb
Del Monte gold pineapples: $2.99

USDA: potato stocks down 9%

From the USDA potato stocks report of yesterday:


The 13 major potato States held 242 million cwt of potatoes in storage December 1, 2008, down 9 percent from a year ago and 7 percent below December 1, 2006. Potatoes in storage accounted for 66 percent of the 2007 fall storage States' production, slightly below December 1, 2007. Klamath Basin stocks totaled 4.00 million cwt on December 1, 2008, down 5 percent from a year ago. Klamath Basin stocks include potatoes stored in California and Klamath County, Oregon. Potato disappearance, at 123 million cwt, was 6 percent below December 1, 2007 and down 5 percent from December 1, 2006. Season-to-date shrink and loss, at 13.0 million cwt, was down 8 percent from the same date in 2007 and down 2 percent from 2006. Processors in the 9 major States have used 71.8 million cwt of potatoes this season, down
2 percent from the same period last year and down 3 percent from 2 years ago. Dehydrating usage accounted for 10.7 million cwt of the total processing, down 16 percent from last year and 26 percent below the same period in 2006.

Dec. 16 - 1 800 Granny 8 and top headlines

I don't know if you hear the cheerily disturbing radio ad for "1 800 Granny 8" in your market, but the trusting "Granny" voice tells me "If ho ho ho means spend spend spend and you are spending more than you have, call Granny. I can get you $50,000 for $238 per month and no payments till April." Good grief; isn't this how our problems started in the first place? My real grandmother could have given "Granny 8" her comeuppance, no doubt. "Granny 8" never had to scratch out a life in the farmland north of Russell, Kansas; there was no 800 number to bail people out back then.

Another radio ad now playing features the "bailout" car loan, somehow using as a prop the dire credit crisis in America as a reason to come on in: "Bad credit - NO PROBLEM. Unemployed - NO PROBLEM. Just push or pull in your trade and you can get our $7,000 bailout loan."

Really, is it any wonder Americans have walked down the primrose path of debt with such perilous speed? No lessons have been learned so far.

Here are some headlines for Dec. 16:

Aldi to expand operations in the U.S. From DataMonitor
Aldi will open 25 stores in the Dallas Forth Worth area by spring of 2010. Currently the German chain operates in 29 states with 1,000 stores, is also constructing a $40 million, 500, square food distribution center in Denton to support stores in Texas and Oklahoma, the story says. Company spokeswoman Martha Swaney says company is doubling rate of expansion and calls 2008 a "very significant" year for growth.

Fruits, veggies cut breast cancer relapse rates

South China cold chain: A USDA FAS report


Employers look to Obama to deliver on immigration promise From Sacbee: Unemployment may hurt chance for federal immigration reform, not withstanding expectations of employers.

New York governor promises obesity tax Deficit to be slimmed by taxing sugar sodas

No match rule still on hold

Failure of GM, Chrysler would push economy into abyss 2.5 million would lose jobs if GM went under

U.S. anti-kidnap expert kidnapped in Mexico Hundreds have been kidnapped this year as cartels try to exert power; over 5,000 dead in drug related violence this year

U.S. factories slash output Worst quarter since 1980 reported

Commercial foreclosures increase in Dallas area