Spike in Lettuce Prices (organic, consume, serving, taco)
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Standard market price a restaurant paid for a case of romaine over the past year was $25-$30. Recent prices have been in the $80-$100 range and may be settling in the $60-$70 dollar range until new crops come in.
Iceberg lettuce is grown from Salinas, CA to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. The various fields are planted at particular times so that there is lettuce available year around. For example, most of the lettuce for a particular week is grown in a single area. If that field is destroyed during the growing season, you have a short-term shortage of iceberg lettuce.
When I was purchasing lettuce wholesale 20 years ago, I would pay about $8-10 for 24 heads. It could jump up to $30 if there was weather related issues.
This happens in a number of produce products.
The way to get around it is to substitute another variety of lettuce until prices fall.
My husband went to the store the other day - $3 for a head of iceberg lettuce!! (This is the Chicago suburbs.)
WHAT HAPPENED?
Just a few weeks ago it was $.99! Did some calamity happen that I'm unaware of?
Are you experiencing the same?
most of it has to do with the horrible weather Ca had this past 6 months; rain damaged a lot of the crops we have been told; check out the prices of avocados this season. the same with Asparagus. Most years it will run about $.99 to $1.79 during high season which is now. I have only seen it as low as $1.99 this season and not too often that cheap. Avocados, most of the time right now are running $1.29 to $2.29 each locally. This The avocado season runs from Dec to about April. Hopefully the prices on all produce will come down soon.. I am waiting for Vidalia onions to start showing up. At least they do not come from Ca.
The former drought can hardly be the reason for a current lettuce shortage.
As I read and heard, it is the combination of drought and flooding. For those who have not seen the increase yet, it only really hit a week or so ago, so unless you have bought lettuce for instance you may not have noticed. even our local WalMart has a sign up referring to the lack of some produce due to the weather considtions in CA. For those who have noticed the increase even in some produce from Mexico, let's face it, they know they too can increase their prices based on the shortage some places.
I had sticker shock at Sprouts - everything leafy has gone up by 33%. It took forever to get SO to eat rabbit food and now this! Yesterday's butter lettuce was normally 2.98 and an occasional treat from read leaf/romaine. 5$ for two big or four small servings.
Nasturtiums are already coming up as underplanting to fire beans in big pots. SO will get several packets of mesclun mix to underplanting his pepper plants. Seeds seem to disappear at the stores around May. Spinach, chard, peas, .... there are quite a few fast growing leafy plants which will supplement store bought lettuce and are easy to grow in containers or as underplanting in flower beds.
Lettuce prices are always wacky, I haven't bought a head of iceberg in sometime and opt for pre-bagged mostly.
I don't do this for convenience it's just often a head of lettuce goes to waste in my fridge.
I know a lot of you wont shop at Walmart for produce but I know they don't order their produce and it's force shipped.
This results in them having a surplus of produce and forcing them to lower prices drastically to reduce overstock.
I get great deals on .50 Avocado's, Bell peppers, Mangos. Of course this is not consistent but it's always worth a look.
NPR had a segment a while back where they predicted lettuce prices would climb for another reason. A lot of illegals are afraid to show up for work for fear of being deported, so lettuce is rotting in the fields, unpicked.
Where are the Americans who are looking for work ? They keep saying illegals are taking the jobs they want, so here is a golden opportunity.
We usually get avocados for 49 cents here, or sometimes 3/$1.00. You can pay more for bigger avocados, and those are usually $1.50, but the bigger avocados just have bigger seeds, so it's not really a better deal.
I disagree, the pit to flesh ratio is better in a nice large avocado, and in my experience they are better quality too. I feel like buying the little ones is a gamble (albeit an inexpensive one).
NPR had a segment a while back where they predicted lettuce prices would climb for another reason. A lot of illegals are afraid to show up for work for fear of being deported, so lettuce is rotting in the fields, uunpicked.
Vice news also had a segment on this a few weeks ago. They had interviewed a few farmers who had said they had to be more competitive to retain help by offering higher wages, better benefits, and even giving pieces of land.
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