New crop apples and pears from California appeared, along with a few autumn décor items in some flyers. Local produce such as Pecos cantaloupes from Texas and tomatoes from Maryland were still plentiful. Retailers focused on upcoming Labor Day festivities with specials on corn, watermelons, cantaloupe, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, potatoes, and Roma tomatoes. School supplies and lunchbox favorites such as tangerines, baby carrots, apples, and strawberries were heavily featured as additional districts began classes.
Total ad numbers this week were 280,730, a 10% decrease from last week's 311,275. The total for the same week last year was 10% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 166,073 (59% of all ads), onions and potatoes 9,368 (3%), vegetables 100,931 (36%), herbs 931, ornamentals 2,267, and hemp 1,160. The number of ads for organic produce was 40,191, 14% 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 seedless grapes (black at 25%, red at 21%, organic red and white at 11%), pineapples at 22%, Bartlett pears at 18%, yellow peaches at 17%, Navel oranges at 16%, nectarines (yellow 14%, white 15%), and avocados at 12%. There were no significant decreases. There were no significant changes in the price for onions and potatoes this week.
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Source: mymarketnews.ams.usda.gov