The Packer is a national produce newsletter. Here’s how they describe their publication:
There’s no argument that The Packer is the fresh fruit and vegetable industry’s leading source for news, information and analysis. The Packer has been reporting every week on the produce industry since 1893. ThePacker.com serves fresh fruit and vegetable growers, packers, and shippers; produce retailers; foodservice distributors; fresh-cut processors; wholesale produce distributors, and allied product and service providers.
Every year, The Packer does research on fruits and vegetables, and I will periodically post some of the reports. Here is its 2010 tomato report.
Fresh Trends 2010
Tomatoes are one of the most popular commodities in the produce department. This year tomatoes were the third most-popular vegetable, down from the No. 2 spot last year. Overall, tomatoes were the fifth most-popular item of all commodities studied in Fresh Trends 2010. Purchases increased five percentage points in the past year and were up 10 percentage points from Fresh Trends 2009.
For the fourth consecutive year, the likelihood of purchase increased according to income, with consumers earning more than $100,000 annually being the most likely to buy tomatoes. Consumers with kids living at home were slightly more likely to buy tomatoes, at 90%, than those without kids, at 86%. Consumers in the lowest income bracket, and single shoppers, were the least likely to buy the red vegetable.
Field-grown beefsteak tomatoes remain the most popular variety. In fact, purchases of the slicers climbed 12 percentage points from Fresh Trends 2009. Preference for romas, consumers’ next favorite, slipped seven percentage points in the past year. Preference for cherry tomatoes fell more than 50% from Fresh Trends 2009, while most other varieties remained relatively steady.
Shoppers are comfortable with tomatoes, as 81% of those surveyed said they felt at ease selecting ripe tomatoes for immediate consumption. For example, consumers said they were more comfortable selecting ripe tomatoes than they were selecting ripe bananas. Sixty-seven percent of consumers said they knew how to ripen tomatoes once they got them home.
Tomatoes top many salads around the country, as more than 80% of consumers said they use the vegetable in salads. Shoppers also buy tomatoes to add to their favorite recipes or to use as a side dish.
Last year organic tomato purchases reached new heights – this year organic lost all it had gained the previous year, and more. However, tomatoes were still one of the most popular items that consumers purchased organic at least some of the time. Tomatoes were the No. 2 vegetable and the No. 3 commodity overall that consumers said they purchased as organic periodically. This year, 17% of tomato consumers said they bought organic at least some of the time. The likelihood of an organic-only purchase fell 66% from Fresh Trends 2009 and dropped 50% from Fresh Trends 2008. Seventy-one percent of organic tomato buyers said they bought organic less than 25% of the time. Single shoppers were most likely to buy organic tomatoes exclusively.
More of The Packer’s Fresh Trends articles here.
I started receiving The Packer’s little produce magazine about six or seven years ago, when it was actually a magazine you could hold, read and save… I loved it as it gave me many ideas for subjects to research and write about. I miss the magazine! I remember reading in one, at the back where they interviewed chefs in a Q & A format a little interview with Chef Allan Wong where he mentioned using the tomatoes from Hamakua Springs Country Farms.