USDA Develops Conventional, Organic Price Comparison Tool

WASHINGTON — The Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Services is developing a new report to help consumers compare the cost per serving of promoted organic and conventional fruits and vegetables.

The report will utilize data from the Agricultural Marketing Services Market News reports, which tracks the weekly prices of promoted fruits and vegetables at retail as well as other market data, according to Audrina Lange, assistant to the director at USDA AMS Fruit and Vegetable Market News.

“Traditionally, consumers haven’t been heavy users of Market News data. However, we saw an opportunity with the retail data that directly relates to consumers and could even promote consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables,” Lange said during the USDA webinar "Getting the Most out of Fruit and Vegetable Market News Retail Report" on Wednesday.

“It’s possible to use the data from the retail report to determine how expensive or inexpensive it is to fill half your plate according to USDA’s My Plate recommendations with fresh fruits and vegetables each week.”

Lange shared an image of what the report might look like for comparing shopping lists. The USDA has not set a launch date for the new report yet, but Lange said it could possibly be released after the agency runs a pilot program from six months to a year.