Market Disruptions Changed Vegetable Production Plans

Posted by Carol Miller|July 1, 2020

Our State of the Industry survey took place leading up to the first two weeks of the country going into lockdown. That coincidence gave us a glimpse into how the pandemic changed your crop choices.

With foodservice demand down, you would think many growers would decide to pull back on most crops. When we compared last year’s report with the pre- and post-lockdown crop results, we saw a different story.

Top Three Crops

Tomatoes, peppers, and summer squash/zucchini topped the list of crops grown over the past two years. In all three crops, pre-lockdown trends looked a lot like those of 2019. But post-lockdown plans? There was a spike in those saying they planned to increase production of these three crops.

That aligns with grocery store customers pivoting to the tried-and-true crops and temporarily backing away from less-common crops.

Crops Showing the Biggest Shifts

Beets and melons deviated the most from pre-lockdown plans.

Post-lockdown beet growers decided to invest more deeply in the crop. About 18% of beet growers in 2019 and pre-lockdown 2020 intended to increase their production. But that shot up to 33% after the lockdown.

Cantaloupe and watermelon growers, however, pulled back on their production. Those planning to decrease production doubled, ending up at 10% and 8% respectively. Likewise, those planning to increase production dropped from 23% to 10% for cantaloupe and 15% for watermelon.