Produce promotions still lag; seeking more protections for farmworkers

Blame it on the coronavirus.

Retailers still are not running as many advertised specials for produce compared with year-ago levels.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest national retail report for specialty crops, issued May 22, said this:

"Retailers maintained their status quo this week, as 8% of regularly reported stores had no ad this week for Covid-19 related reasons. Stores were flush with fruit to sell, mostly due to shipments of new crop melons, tree fruit, and berries. Grilling favorites such as corn, portobello mushrooms, zucchini, asparagus, and pineapples are always popular for Memorial Day cookouts, and perhaps even more so this year as most shoppers will celebrate in their own backyards. Safety measures such as masks, plexiglass barriers, intensified sanitation and one-way aisles are being employed universally at supermarkets across the country, regardless of the status of local stay at home orders. Reduced hours and special shopping times for at risk populations are still in effect.
Total ad numbers this week were 269,932, a 3% decrease from last weeks 277,693. Ad numbers this week were 22% lower than this week last year.
 

TK:  Still far to go to return to "normal" at retail.  Will the escalation of online grocery change the look of produce promotions to shoppers in the days ahead? 

 Relative to USDA coronavirus assistance, the USDA AMS published a list of Farmers to Families Program awards summary here, but there are a couple of other places to see the federal contracts.

Try this link and this one to search a database of federal contract winners.

Other headlines of note:

Panetta seeks protection for farmworkers

On May 22, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., called on House leadership to provide or direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide funds to protect farmworkers and their children.

Panetta and other lawmakers called on USDA to provide grants to states and farmworker-serving non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to:

• Provide free COVID-19 testing for farmworkers. In particular, grants to states and NGOs should proactively increase access to free testing to farmworkers in remote locations and at times when they are not at work.
• Provide education and training to farmworkers. In particular, grants to states and NGOs should ensure that training and education are suitable for all farmworkers, most of whom do not speak English as their first language.
• Provide Personal Protective Equipment to farmworkers. In particular, grants to states and NGOs should ensure that farmers have adequate protections, including masks and handwashing stations.  

More from the letter:

“In addition, we strongly support efforts to ensure that farmworkers receive adequate compensation to reflect their risks and indispensability for agriculture production in our nation. 

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights how valuable farmworkers are to our economy, but also how vulnerable they and their families are to the disease.  As crops across this country are being harvested, we must act quickly and swiftly to ensure that farmworkers are protected.  The USDA can provide those protections with sufficient funding for farmworkers and their families, which, ultimately, can strengthen the food security “

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