Editor's note: The following is a summary of issues highlighted in The Packer's Year in Produce 2023 review.
While 2023 wasn’t exactly a return to a pre-pandemic normal, the year did see a significant decline in inflation in the broader economy. The not-quite-normal inflation numbers are forecast to lead to easing interest rates in 2024 and a coveted “soft landing” for the U.S. economy.
By the end of 2023, the USDA projected grocery inflation at 5.2%, down from 11.4% in 2022 but still above the 3.5% level of both 2021 and 2020. For 2024, the USDA predicts grocery inflation will slow to 1.6%
Big crops of apples and potatoes harvested in the fall of 2023 are expected to pave the way for consumer-friendly prices for much of 2024.
Other crop-related stories that grabbed headlines in 2023 include heavy early-year rains in California’s Salinas-Watsonville region, erratic weather in South America and late summer rains that knocked out millions of cartons of California grapes.
The higher interest rates of 2023 did lead to news of financial struggles and/or restructuring of indoor produce companies, including AppHarvest, AeroFarms, Vertical Farms and others involved in vertical farming or greenhouse production.
The Kroger-Albertsons merger, announced in October 2022, received scrutiny from regulators for all of 2023. In late December, new reports indicate that the companies and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to move a key decision date from December to Jan. 17.
The Packer reported in July that the National Grocers Association was pleased to see that the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice proposed an update to its merger-enforcement guidelines, including more scrutiny on buyer power.
The 2019 Tomato Suspension Agreement between the U.S. and Mexico was a point of contention in 2023.
In mid-December, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., sent a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo reiterating his request for the immediate termination of a 2019 suspension agreement. The letter is a follow up from an initial request in June 2023.
In the letter, Scott said the suspension agreement has allowed Mexico’s tomato exports to continue flooding the domestic market without accountability from the Department of Commerce. Supporting tomato growers from Florida who have sought trade relief, Scott requested duties to be placed on Mexican tomato imports.
Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, said the association representing U.S. distributors of Mexican produce has spent 2023 working to preserve the Tomato Suspension Agreement. The FPAA is among the groups that would like to see the agreement renegotiated in 2024, on the regular five-year schedule.
Other 2023 themes reported in The Packer include the industry’s focus on sustainability initiatives around packaging, food waste, regenerative agriculture, and plastic use.
Food safety-related headlines were common in the pages of The Packer, some of it focusing on the investments the industry has made in food safety. Tim York, CEO of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, shared his thoughts with The Packer about the portrayal of leafy green producers in a recent Netflix documentary.
“The facts are, the U.S. leafy greens producers have dramatically changed the past 15 years to focus and invest in food safety with exhaustive food safety audits, mandatory traceback systems and monthly water testing that takes place on our farms,” he wrote in a guest column for The Packer. “We have enforced science-based, rigorous standards and regulations on ourselves.”