Crosspost from Northern VA - everyone's noticing: Anyone else notice a wide decrease in quality of our vegetables in grocery stores?

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bb1001@reddit

Onions have been awful the last year with layers rotting inside as soon as they get home

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Ebemi@reddit

Yes. I haven't had a good onion in years. Half rotten and more sulfuric.

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This is being caused by crazy weather patterns contributing to Fusarium Wilt ( a fungus). It's also contributed to quality issues in potatoes and tomatoes as well. Unfortunately you can't really tell it's there until you cut into the vegetable.

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2quickdraw@reddit

No they're already rotten when you buy them.

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2quickdraw@reddit

They're probably a year old, and have been frozen and are already rotten inside. You just don't see it.

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Luke-Is-Cooler@reddit

It’s been potatoes for me. Not so much yams/sweet potatoes, but white/russet/red potatoes. They are bruised and start to rot or are rotting from the inside, I swear growing up my mom kept potatoes for 6 months and they were fine.

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RabbitLuvr@reddit

I’ve been having this problem with potatoes for a few years. Growing up, my mom would buy the biggest possible bag of potatoes and just keep it in the kitchen floor. She almost never had to throw one away; that beg kept good for months.

Now I’m lucky to get through a 3 pound bag without at least one going bad; and I keep mine in significantly more climate controlled conditions than she did.

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Eeny009@reddit

It's been 8 months since last harvest, though. I doubt they grow potatoes in greenhouses in winter.

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Luke-Is-Cooler@reddit

The potato problem has been longer than 8 months, probably closer to 1.5 years. And it’s all my local grocery stores.

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Ashamed-Knee9084@reddit

I thought it was just me being unlucky. I go through about 2 bags a week. For the last 3 weeks, every bag I've had to throw away at least 2 of the 5 on average.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Yeah it's been pretty disgusting. Peel the top papery layer, 2 layers of nice green/yellow, then a nasty slimy smelly brown ooze layer, then more edible onion layers that have inevitably started to sprout too. I'm growing my own from seed this year because I'm so sick of it. Onions are pretty cheap, but I'm not paying $4-8 for a bag of smelly rotten onion.

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bb1001@reddit

I started my garden during covid and its been paying off more and more every year. 60 fruit trees maturing and lots of garden beds. Onion and garlic harvest is ongoing with tomatoes and peppers soon. Anything I don’t eat gets vacuum packaged and frozen.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Passion fruit too in the shot? I finally got 'regular' maypops to take a couple years ago, and I added white blooming variety to it too. Got at least 4 pints of maypop jam last year before the frost!

I put my onions in the from-seed muscadine grape, apricot, and gage plum bed. Sprinkled dill seed in it too, and have a nice rogue sunflower going on too.

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bb1001@reddit

Nice, sounds like you got a good setup. Yes this is a flowering passionfruit my fruiting one is up the hill and I usually get over 200 every year. That and mulberries are my big producers, followed by peaches and figs. Passionfruit jam sounds great I have 2 gallons frozen I need to use. Currently making mulberry jam and will make peach mulberry cobbler soon.

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Girafferage@reddit

Does the flowering one not fruit?

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Here's a recipe from pomona's https://pomonapectin.com/lilikoi-jelly-2/

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Calvins8@reddit

I don't ever remember getting rotten onions. Then I started seeing them during the Covid supply crisis and they never got better

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thehourglasses@reddit

Capitalism demands increased yields regardless of quality or nutritional value loss. Crops are designed to be more resistant to pests and yield more, and this leads to falling nutrient density. Capitalism is a disease.

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Ornery-Sheepherder74@reddit

Well I mean yeah, but considering we’ve been doing capitalism since like the 15th century, that is probably not the whole answer here

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thehourglasses@reddit

What percentage of people were farmers even just at the turn of this century? What percentage of agricultural operations were family owned vs. corporate owned? What were the soil health and petrochemical fertilizer requirements? The fact that capitalists have slowly acquired and subsequently run everything into the ground over centuries is precisely the answer.

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AdventurousPlum1@reddit

You could always try socialism, where they ship the food elsewhere so that your entire family dies of starvation or you end up getting shot.

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Significant_Treat_87@reddit

nobody wants america to be like china or soviet russia.... we need communism with american characteristics

there are ways to have a more equitable (and sane) society while still promoting autonomy and without a state-planned economy controlled by a handful of people.

also guess what? our economy is already controlled, by billionaires and their lobbyists. and it's poisoning all of us, privatizing literally everything, and destroying the environment / our ability to grow food and have advanced civilization.

it's not even "capitalism" at this point. there's barely any competition and markets are anything but free. we live in an authoritarian surveillance state where normal people are completely disenfranchised and private property is being replaced with neverending subscriptions; we'll even give you a 50 year mortgage so you never actually own your house.

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AdventurousPlum1@reddit

“Real socialism has never been tried”

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SmallsMalone@reddit

You kidding me? Maintaining a competitive market requires more powerful regulation, specifically targeted at keeping powerful monopolies and oligopolies from gatekeeping entry into industies, siphoning wealth out of communities, altering the rules in their favor, illegally bribing or coercing suppliers and merchants or just blatantly doing illegal and economically destructive things and just eating any consequences as a cost of doing business.

The only kind of deregulation we need is to reverse the rampant regulatory capture that's taken place. If you simply withdraw regulation you simply create power vacuums throughout the market. Those vacuums will immediately be filled by the most powerful interested parties in each market, cementing the existing problems even further.

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2quickdraw@reddit

Go study the Nordic countries before you start blabbing off about socialism because you don't know what you're talking about.

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AdventurousPlum1@reddit

Look up the Holodomor. It happened.

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thehourglasses@reddit

Yawn. This tired shit never ceases to pop up. The holdomer was more related to pseudoscience making its way into the decision making of the Soviet Union than any other factor. Look up Trofim Lysenko and how his idiotic ideas precipitated the crop failures in the Ukraine and elsewhere. It also pales in comparison to the amount of people who have starved throughout history because capitalism puts a floor on what is required to live, rather than equitably distribute resources.

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2quickdraw@reddit

Yes tons of shit happened in the past, look up current status of countries that tend toward democratic socialism.

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AdventurousPlum1@reddit

Overrun by migrants and on the brink of social and fiscal collapse?

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2quickdraw@reddit

No one as impossible as someone who can't stop being obtuse.

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UpsetPhilosopher6022@reddit

Capitalism is the cancer.

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HenricusKunraht@reddit

Today in SoCal

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Darkkwitch31@reddit

Shredded lettuce is horrible in the bags if it is even there at all.

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Badger_Actual1@reddit

Ok. I come from many fields but agriculture is one of them. Deporting all those people that picked your food is a huge problem and a large cause of this. The politics of the agricultural industry aside, many hands can harvest many crops. If you have more people harvesting and inspecting crops, you'll have better looking and more products being brought to market. Surprisingly (/s) the inverse happens when all those people are gone. Crazy right?! Combine that with bad weather events, ect. and you've got a massive problem. Big Ag is a massive problem and a huge proponent of the welfare state. It is a system that is made to fail the moment a few lynch-pins are removed. My suggestion is to support small farms and farmers markets that have quality food if you can afford it. Better yet, start planting now where you can.

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Ra_a_@reddit

Nope. Still as bad as Covid change was. No decline

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Plagueis420@reddit

I feel like that's been happening for a long time now.

I did notice recently at my job that while price points on items may not be increasing much, the quantity of the item is reduced. As an example, say you used to be able to buy 20 balloons for 2$, now it's 15 balloons for 2$. Same thing is happening with cereal, the boxes re getting smaller but the prices aren't changing much. Most people don't notice these changes so they go unchecked.

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BradBeingProSocial@reddit

I have a theory on why people complain so much about the price of ground beef, soda, and eggs. You can’t shrink those things. Everybody knows ground beef is exactly 1 pound. A 2 liter is 2 liters. A dozen eggs is 12 eggs. You can only inflate those, not shrink them.

My theory is that other groceries have gone up by as much as those things, or even more, but beef/soda/eggs get all the attention.

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Kindly-Guidance714@reddit

Low cost of food and snacks kept the working class at this country placated regardless of how shit their lives were.

Now they don’t give a shit and took it all away so now everyone’s fucking miserable about everything costing an arm and a leg especially food.

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Vid-Master@reddit

Regular pop tarts and oreos have less filling, and then they now sell "double stuffed" offerings for both that cost more. They are playing all kinds of games.

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anuthertw@reddit

I know its ripping us off but I actually prefer the higher cookie to filling ratio.... but with less stuffing should come a smaller price tag

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Kindly-Guidance714@reddit

My problem is Oreo “thins” should realistically be cheaper but they aren’t so they can reduce or fill the product and then get to charge you whatever they feel is justified.

If Americans didn’t roll over every fucking time maybe things would change in this lifetime but I ain’t holding my breath.

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baardvark@reddit

I never thought I’d meet a fellow cookie preferrer!

Oreo Thins fix the problem somewhat.

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anuthertw@reddit

I honestly never buybthem anymore but when i was a kid my mom would buy oreos and eat the filling out of them and leave the naked cookies for me lol. If they sold the cookie bits by themselves like choco-crackers then id be much fatter than I am lol

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EdibleHollowPoint@reddit

Amazon, Walmart and I think it was Levi’s all got caught in a price fixing scheme that’s been going on for who knows how long.

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daughter_void@reddit

California AG Rob Bonta had a very concise infographic post on his Instagram account about this. It was Levi's, Chewy, Hanes, Wayfair, Hone Depot, and a company that sells eyedrops. And those are only the ones that the state has evidence against. Surely there are more instances than that

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EdibleHollowPoint@reddit

Surely the media monopoly will cover this right ?

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SushiAndKetamine@reddit

And the "chocolate" cookies no longer have the bitterness to balance out the sweetness of the filling. Now Oreos are just bland sugar bombs.

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Savory-Cactus001@reddit

Wild decrease in chocolate quality in general. I don’t think hersheys chocolate have any chocolate left in them. Just sugar, wax, and cocoa powder

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americanrunner8838@reddit

“Shrinkflation”

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forbiddenfreedom@reddit

12 gummy bears in the little bag is now 7 bears. 5 mini muffins is now 3. It's horrendous. Meats are injected with water and coloring.

gif

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wwaxwork@reddit

The nutritional content of even whole foods is shrinking too. They spend so much time making crops bigger and producing more they didn't bother making sure the nutrition levels have kept up. Most vegetables are up to 38% less nutritious now than they were in the 1950's using the USDAs own figures. Basically they increased the size of the fruits and vegetables but that size comes in the form of starches not nutrients.

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Miss_Molly1210@reddit

I started making the mini muffins for kids to take for snacks. I found a recipe that uses protein pancake mix (you can buy or make your own) and one batch is enough for 3ish days of school and costs $2 tops for 24 mini muffins that are way healthier and you can use wherever toppings your little heart desires!

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NetflakesC@reddit

Would you be able to share the recipe please?

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Miss_Molly1210@reddit

Of course! I can’t take credit I actually found an IG account that does lots of home made stuff.

This is the protein pancake mix, I was using the store bought stuff I had until I ran out and made a batch of mix last night. Her handle is on the second photo with the muffin recipe if you use IG and want to check her out, she curses like a sailor and is a bit aggressive but her recipes and tips are on point

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Miss_Molly1210@reddit

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Vegetable-Board-5547@reddit

Bought 3 lbs. of ground beef in a tube last week. It looked like McDonald's sludge.

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forbiddenfreedom@reddit

Rest assured, I've worked at mcds for over a year and all of their beef comes frozen and precut. The sludge is made into patties at the factories of Yum! Brands, inc.

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Eric_Durden@reddit

I feel ya, I opened a "fun size" bag of peanut M&Ms last night and it only had 3 candies in it...

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baardvark@reddit

Was that fun

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ParaBellumOutfitters@reddit

r/shrinkflation

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Ghost_Of_Malatesta@reddit

Covid is when I noticed it really going down hill

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BusyBanana4205@reddit

I have spent the last few years snacking on apples constantly. I don’t buy bags, and I’m not much for red delicious or Gala apples. I got hooked on Fuji apples for a very long time but since last year or so, I have yet to have one quality crisp Fuji. They used to be the most consistent in my area of northern Pennsylvania, but now they’re soft and gross.

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TeamRedundancyTeam@reddit

I've had some great cosmic crisps lately but half the time I get them from Walmart pickup they just grab some other random smaller red apple and don't count it as a substitution.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Me too exactly, but those particularly are brown-rotten around the core but look amazing from the outside for the last couple years. Too many nasty surprises so I don't buy them any more. Luckily the apples I planted in my yard are finally going to hopefully make me some fruit this year (buds in progress).

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Logridos@reddit

I had two fruit trees in my yard, both of them were killed by weather in the past few years :(

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DieselPunkPiranha@reddit

What kind of weather?

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Logridos@reddit

I'm in Texas, the big freeze of 2021 killed a loquat tree. Then a few years later a wind storm knocked over a peach tree that was about a week away from producing its first ever fruit.

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DieselPunkPiranha@reddit

Lost a dwarf apple tree to a storm. Wind snapped it in half. We can protect our trees from the frost by wrapping them in cloth or other materials, but there's little we can do about wind if we don't already have bigger trees as a barrier.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

😞

I definitely was afraid I'd lose all the buds during the last frost, and was pleasantly surprised they haven't rotted and dropped. The pear is too high up for me to get a close look at, but if they haven't fallen off yet, I'm going to assume I might actually get a pair of pears this year. Last year I only got fruit from stuff that blooms later, ie fig and jujube.

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ImpGiggle@reddit

I stopped trying to buy avocados. It's not worth it anymore.

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RabbitLuvr@reddit

I have pet house rabbits, who get 2 cups of mixed greens every day; and I’m vegetarian. I buy a lot of veggies. . The decline in quality has been going on for at least 6 years, but the past 9-12 months have been absolutely awful.

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2quickdraw@reddit

I have rabbits, I grow arugula, endive, claytonia, and romaine for them. They also get chard and spinach.

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Bobert77@reddit

Remember all the news stories about deportations? Wouldn’t be surprised if that’s also been playing a role

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Pretend-Policy832@reddit

People voted for this are in the FAFO stage.

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thormor_86@reddit

Interesting you bring this up. My family and I were talking over the weekend how produces doesn't last anymore. Bought a potato bag, carrots, and they all falter and rot within weeks rather than months.
Located in Canada, so most likely share common origin as US markets.

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2quickdraw@reddit

Because all the produce is old before they even ship it to the market.

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BoboBabinsky@reddit

Yes, here in CA they’ve been progressively getting worse over the past 5 years with a steep worsening in the past few weeks. Carrots starting to rot in store, slimy lettuce, flexible celery, onions and potatoes that go bad within a few days. Also bananas that are going bad before they even ripen.

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LightningSunflower@reddit

What is causing that?

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radiantmoonglow@reddit

Climate change. I know someone in ag.

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LightningSunflower@reddit

Can you explain more? I believe it but I would love to be able to explain to people why

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DieselPunkPiranha@reddit

Unnecessary shipping, bad growing and transport conditions, and, sometimes they breed them to look better than they are.

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Lady-Blood-Raven@reddit

Same in Coachella Valley

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Debussian_Chords@reddit

Strawberries have been ass.

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radiantmoonglow@reddit

For years

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Character-Zombie-961@reddit

2 Avocados I got last week were weird af. Both were very firm, but the skin made them look pretty ripe. After 4 days into the fridge they go for 3 days. I sliced both open yesterday and a portion of them was ripe, the meat around the seed was hard as a rock, as well as rotten. I'm in SoCal and most come from Mexico, and there are some avo ranches in the area. My watermelon was also mush. Onions have been hit or miss.

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melympia@reddit

Wait, you buy bananas with seeds in the US? Like this:

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

I used to live in San Diego and couldn't wait to leave to live somewhere where I could grow a garden and get actual flavorful fruits and veggies instead. (Can't get a house with yard + water it there unless you're pretty rich) There's good things about San Diego, but getting produce from the grocery store was not it.

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BoboBabinsky@reddit

Oh I forgot to mention the rotten personal watermelon I bought on Amazon Fresh last week. Cut into it same day it was delivered and it was slimy on the inside.

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fairoaks2@reddit

Some states have okayed farmers using “sludge” from city sewer systems. Many farmers are now reporting problems, especially ranchers who say the runoff is affecting calfs. Sludge is high in pollutants.

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lariabeth@reddit

Well they deported the migrants who pick them...

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HillTower160@reddit

Everyone’s noticing: we have tens of thousands of people, including farm workers in prison warehouses. Why did we think that produce, construction, etc. wasn’t going to suffer?

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mslashandrajohnson@reddit

I shop for produce at a fancy farm stand type place.

Berries were too expensive last week. I bought three zucchini, a bag of shredded cabbage for Cole slaw, and a bunch of bananas.

I’ve been enjoying berries all winter. Unfortunately, that’s over now. Might be able to go to pick your own farms this summer.

The fancy farm stand doesn’t sell damaged or bad quality produce. Instead, they charge what it costs to bring better quality produce to Massachusetts. And some shelves were empty.

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Turbulent_Table3917@reddit

South Shore by any chance? I’d really like to check this one out.

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mslashandrajohnson@reddit

Acton. It’s Idylwilde Farms. It’s a proper farm stand with produce plus cheeses, breads (some baked there) and candies/treats/cakes plus jarred sauces, beer and wine, and seedlings, potting soil, mulch, et cetera. Lots of imported products but also dried beans in a rainbow of different varieties (might be suitable for planting or cooking), pickles, nuts, certain fruits that need refrigeration (key limes, …), soups and sauces. They make sandwiches and also sell products made there like egg salad.

I wish every area had such a place.

There’s no household cleaning or paper products. They do have beautiful cut flowers and greeting cards and house plants, too.

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Turbulent_Table3917@reddit

You had me at candies/cakes/treats. 😂

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Makeitifyoubelieve@reddit

Been a produce manager for 20 years - Nothing has changed from a quality standpoint. If anything, it's gotten better. Maybe the quality of the people working the industry has gone down since you can no longer raise a family with jobs in the grocery industry.

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LesChatsnoir@reddit

Maybe that the problem, being candid. Here are hundreds of people disagreeing with you, yet you’re saying ‘it’s fine, no change.’ The communities are screaming your products are on the decline yet you say they’re fine. Surprise, surprise, we get (literally) fed the same crap, being told it’s fine, it’s fine. Sure, it’s all in our heads.

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Makeitifyoubelieve@reddit

There are a ton of factors that go into the quality of the produce you end up with in your basket. If you're not turning over your inventory as fast as possible the quality is going to be crap. I've managed produce shops that do as low as 16k/week all the way up to as high as 200k/week over the years. The quality on the shelf difference is easier to maintain as the volume goes up. You can keep produce looking pretty good at the store via crimping, re-trim, etc but if its been sitting in your cooler or backroom or on the shelf it'll turn to shit as soon as your customer gets it home. Quality/Freshness is all about getting your turns. Higher prices could be lowering your turns across the board leadding to less fresh produce on your table.

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LesChatsnoir@reddit

I should have responded with curiosity instead of how I did - where do you work? As in - big box store? Grocery? Etc … also - what region? Have you noticed any difference in quality in general in any groceries? Any changes in supply chain or processes?

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Makeitifyoubelieve@reddit

Big box grocery chains in the PNW. Covid was a shit show, other than that, business as usual.

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GrandmaJudy7pooka@reddit

Trump doesn’t eat vegetables…

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kingofhearts778@reddit

They go bad in like two days. Terrible quality.

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mihihi@reddit

yes I have noticed this with salad greens. this past winter and now, I haven’t been able to purchase salad greens that are already going bad. they last for maybe a day or two and I have to throw it out. my guess is that greens are usually grown in the southwest/california and they have had a very hot winter which isn’t great for growing greens.

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malichev@reddit

Yall just now finally noticing? Has your head been in the sand or something? This isn't new news at all. Prices are way up. Quality is way down on everything. This is across the board. If your only just noticing now stays going on it's to late for you.

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VariousFalcon7466@reddit

It’s been happening since Covid.

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FunkyPlunkett@reddit

Wayyyyy before that

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FunkyPlunkett@reddit

That’s what happens when spoiled kids take over what their parents made. Kids in charge now.

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Livid_Roof5193@reddit

We have a user who shared the Produce Alliance reports here (often monthly). The last two reports basically told us we’d have produce issues upcoming. Here’s the most recent one: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrepperIntel/s/QXdGdZJGXg

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ZealousidealEbb9107@reddit

The stuff they been feeding yall have never really been real veggies or fruits. I worked in produce and what I see stalked in grocery stores is nearly disgusting because the real edible stuff is not over processed. There was a video a few years back doing a segment about lettuce and how what yall have now does not sog like real lettuce.

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Butterscotch6310@reddit

It's the same here in Europe, and the reason I now grow my own veggies as far as possible. But go look at your toilet paper roll. The tube bit is now much wider/bigger and the sheets half as thin

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sblinn@reddit

Green, non spicy habaneros. Sad.

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alucardunit1@reddit

Everything is being purchased by foreign money and gutted. This is the fire sale of the usa.

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FursonaNonGrata@reddit

I've worked in grocery for a decade now at a "higher class" grocery store, people used to frequently cite our produce as the reason they shopped here. All our local produce has been consistent in quality and price, but anything from suppliers in the off season as well as stuff not locally available has been very low quality, to the point our guests now frequently submit complaints.

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Ok-Transition7065@reddit

i will also coment that, the past month it was harder and harder to get fressh fruit in my store

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StrawberryFailcake@reddit

Yeah, farmer's markets are the way to go.

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kheret@reddit

Farmers markets are only open for like 3 months of the year here and they’re extremely expensive, and mostly made up of people selling $20 loaves of bread and stuff.

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great--pretender@reddit

They’re not good everywhere, but my experience has been exactly the opposite. I’ve gotten 3 pounds of blackberries and raspberries, mixed, for about $10. They were damn near giving away leafy greens type vegetables.

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kheret@reddit

It’s a very regional thing I think. In this region they’re a bougie thing and the vendors price accordingly.

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great--pretender@reddit

Ah man, I’m sorry to hear that :/

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human_i_suppose@reddit

I remember reading that we've modified crops to grow faster and spend less time in the dirt, so they don't have as much time to absorb nutrients and minerals.

That was at least 15 or 20 years ago. I assume it didn't get better.

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imhereforthepuppies@reddit

It makes me wonder if there has been a change in regulations to accompany general supply chain disruptions, or a change in storage practices. I wonder if grocers are actually using ripening gas (mentioned in another comment, common practice) to get produce closer to overripe before shipping it in order to force consumers to re-buy/replenish more often 🤔 Can’t hang on to that onion for two weeks until you need it if it’s already mush on day 3.

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52BeesInACoat@reddit

I used to get those Naked or Bolthouse farms premade smoothies. My kids are happy to drink them and I like them too. But I haven't been getting them recently because they look, visually, off. Nasty and separated. Discolored. Some separating is normal but they look congealed.

Yesterday I wanted to get the bolthouse farms carrot juice, which hasn't been looking as bad (and which is just for me sadly as my kids don't appreciate it) but I checked the expiration date and it expired that day. I checked each one on the shelf and they all expired that day. And I didn't want the pressure of chugging that many carrots, so I didn't get any.

Midwest USA.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Gold Machine used to be my favourite. RIP juices.

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Hi_InternetAddiction@reddit

interesting coincidence, i just talked to a family member about how pale the roma tomato i ate was and it actually didnt taste good even though it wasnt spoiled.

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matchabunnns@reddit

Most grocery store tomatoes are artificially ripened using ethylene gas. They turn red, but were picked before their sugar content set. So they’re pretty flavorless.

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HurtPillow@reddit

I love large navel oranges and lately they have been shit. The pulp-ish part is some how dried out. There is a lot of disappointment lately.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Citrus greening has been annihilating FL citrus growers for a while now. If you want oranges, it might be a good idea to start growing a tree indoors.

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HurtPillow@reddit

aww damn. I have poor sun exposure in my apartment, I have zero real plants here.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Time to figure out if oranges are worth the cost of a grow light to you.

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uselessandexpensive@reddit

Time to start your garden and prepare for a local barter-based economy, y'all.

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theTrueLodge@reddit

Would be nice to post this in a farmer subreddit and get their take

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PaperboysDitty98@reddit

Our local sub shop can't get in decent tomatoes. They said other restaurants in the area are experiencing the same thing. They are so poor, they just aren't serving them. (Eastern Iowa). They are waiting for the larger local farmers to produce tomatoes. They can't just go to like Sam's and buy them because of food regs I guess.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

The person on this sub who posts those weekly/monthly produce reports had some good background on it the last time. Basically, expect very little quantity poor quality tomatoes for the most part, for the foreseeable near future right now. Glad I went overboard starting way too many seedlings this Spring, because I saw their report right after I planted and was worried about starting too many lol.

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Whyam1sti11Here@reddit

I live in Colorado. We're known for our bad produce. Except for peaches and hatch chilies. The peaches and hatch chilies are awesome.

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inaeturnumetsemper@reddit

i miss the peaches and hatch chilies. time for a visit!

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Feisty-Bluebird4@reddit

Hit up the farmers market if you have one nearby or get a csa share if you can afford it.

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anuthertw@reddit

It seems to come in waves here. Its been better lately but several weeks ago produce was definitely more sketch. Really up and down Ive noticed though.

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TehHamburgler@reddit

I'm scrambling to get a garden going. Even if it cost more now at least it will taste better and for whatever stupid thing happens tomorrow or the next. $10 blueberries is what lit the fire under my ass to get moving. I should have done this years ago because sod/clay does not turn into soft diggable dirt over night so if you want results fast you will spend a a lot of money on soil amendments.

I started filling one bed with straw/dried grass and this fall will be leaves but can take like 3 years for the bugs to work their magic and for things to break down. I think I seen $12 a bag for garden soil. or you can layer compostables that I had previously been bagging in brown yard bags. I bought a mini tiller to break up some ground to get moving faster for this summers vegetables.

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splat-y-chila@reddit (OP)

Wild blackberries sprung up out of my clay and do just great. An expensive garden is better than no produce, in case it's not even available as overpriced and rotten at the store. Check your local dump, because mine has free compost and mulch.

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squirrel8296@reddit

Yep, they’ve gotten bad recently in my area. The only decent veggies recently have surprisingly been cauliflower.

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hailene02@reddit

Recently: roma tomatoes. Either still green/blush , overripe and actually craking/bursting, or not available.

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minisculemango@reddit

Lol, I was able to take some of the loose carrots in my local Safeway and bend them all the way, they were so floppy.

Even the "in season" fruit looks like it's half-rot. Worse, the farmers markets are being overrun with drop shipped garbage and the same suppliers that stock the stores. We're being robbed right before our eyes.

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lionfisher11@reddit

I feel the pain, and Im part of the problem. When I buy produce that looks fine but is rotten on the inside, I just toss it. I should be returning it, and not shopping at that store anymore, but thats easier said than done.

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livestrong2109@reddit

I legit can't find green whole romaine and it's driving me crazy.

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sup3rjub3@reddit

we cripple every step in the supply chain and then act shocked when we don't have fresh produce

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lionfisher11@reddit

And we train ai on the crippled system. Its gonna take a minute to right this ship.

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HoneyIntrepid6709@reddit

Fruit

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Triks1@reddit

I've noticed this in NJ over the last 10 or so. Some stores just straight up sell fruit with mold.

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BlueAndean@reddit

Canadian here. Vegetaboes, fruits, hell eggs and such. Quality dropping on everything... We startes making our own bread and growing our veggies but there is only so much you can do if you dont have a farm

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tek9jansen@reddit

Been noticing it at least as far back as covid. Produce started looking like it'd been kicked around the men's room floor before being put up for sale. Even going to the stores in the "rich" part of town, the produce from there doesn't seem to last like it used to. Extra CO2 in the air, pesticides/herbicides, I dunno.

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