Georgia vegetable growers expected a bad crop year. Many
farmers planted early and had
plants freeze in the field, forcing them to replant.

Then just as the weather seemed to cooperate, a heat wave
moved into the South,
speeding up plants’ growth. Instead of spreading out the
harvest, it’s all coming to market at
about the same time.

“We’re trying to market all the acreage in a compressed
marketing season,” said Bill Mizelle, an
economist with the University of Georgia Extension
Service. “This has led to a drop in
many prices.”

Squash and zucchini growers are hardest-hit, with prices just
over half their
late-spring levels. “The less than $4 (per bushel) they’re
getting hardly covers
harvesting costs,” Mizelle said.

Other affected crops include cabbage and cucumbers, both with
prices about
three-fourths of normal.

Not since 1992 have vegetable prices been this low. Between
those lows, prices set
record highs. In 1994, for instance, a three-quarter-bushel box
of yellow straightneck
squash sold for nearly $15.

Low wholesale prices usually get passed on to retail markets,
meaning savings for
shoppers.

Farmers who planted early did so to get a jump on the
marketing season. That’s normal, Mizelle said.
Early in the harvest, prices are usually higher.

“When there is a relatively small amount of anything on
the market, prices go up,” he said. It’s part of the law of
supply and demand. With a stable demand, a low
supply drives up prices. If the supply is high, prices drop.

So during an average year, prices start high and then drop as
the harvest continues.
Early this season, though, very little produce came on the
market. That kept prices fairly
high, but only for a short time.

Mizelle said prices depend entirely on weather and timing. If
Georgia vegetables come
in early, they overlap with Florida produce. If they come in
late, they overlap with
vegetables from the Carolinas. Both can drive prices down.

The year has started badly for vegetable farmers. And it
isn’t likely to get much better.

“Unless the weather changes significantly, this
compressed marketing season will keep prices low,” Mizelle
said. “I’m sorry to say it, but 1996 is shaping up as a less-
than-exciting year
for Georgia vegetable growers.”