contents

• Background
• Trade
• Market outlook
• Policy

newsletter
Vegetables and Melons Outlook is an electronic report, issued every other month in newsletter format, featuring current intelligence and forecasts of changing conditions in the U.S. vegetable and melon sectors. Topics include production consumption, prices trade and more.

recommended readings
U.S. Fresh Produce Markets: Marketing Channels, Trade Practices, and Retail Pricing Behavior synthesizes results of a multiphase project that examined the dynamics of produce markets, produce shipper-retailer relationships, and the relative market influence of producers, retailers, and consumers. In the past decade, retail consolidation, changing consumer demand, marketing practices, and new technology have transformed U.S. fresh fruit and vegetable markets. For additional information, see the ERS produce markets project page in the Food Market Structures briefing room.

Factors Affecting Tomato Consumption in the United States uses a USDA food intake survey to provide a demographic breakdown of who eats tomatoes. Findings include the fact that per capita fresh tomato consumption is greatest in the Northeast and West while processed tomatoes are most popular in the West and Midwest.

How Much Do Americans Pay for Fruits and Vegetables? uses ACNielsen Homescan data on 1999 household food purchases from all types of retail outlets to estimate an annual retail price per pound and per serving for 69 forms of fruits and 85 forms of vegetables. Consumers can meet the recommendation of three servings of fruits and four servings of vegetables daily for 64 cents. The data used in the report are also available in Excel (*.xls) spreadsheets.

See all recommended readings...

U.S. Tomato Trade consists of eight tables (*.pdf format) describing fresh and processing tomato trade by major product and trade partner.

Vegetables and Melons Yearbook contains 141 tables in downloadable spreadsheet files (*.xls format) detailing 25 years of annual and monthly data for U.S. acreage, production, prices, trade, per capita use, and more.

related briefing rooms
Vegetable and melons
Potatoes
Food market structures
Organic farming and marketing
Mexico
Canada

questions and answers
Where do tomatoes rank among vegetables in value? Find the answer to this and other commonly asked questions about U.S. fresh and processed tomatoes.

related links
Links to other sites with economic information about fresh and processed tomatoes.

for more information, contact: Gary Lucier
web administration: webadmin@ers.usda.gov
page updated: August 10, 2004