The recent weather in Florida and Mexico has had a large impact on green bean prices during the last few months in the Mid-Atlantic and NE regions. According to Jonathan Steffy from Four Seasons Produce, "Quality on what has been harvested has been pretty good, from our perspective, this year. The main issue has been more with supply and demand which has created some challenges to say the least. Thanksgiving and Christmas were fairly difficult with green bean supplies.
We are seeing things ease off a little at the moment, but this is most likely related to the recent storms on the east coast, it might be temporary, but the last few months has been an expensive time for green beans."
The higher prices coincided with the period where green bean demand reaches its peak. "People use a lot of green beans during the traditional holidays, along with the winter period in general. People may be consuming a lot of green beans in our region during summer too, but they are purchased less frequently at the supermarket since local beans are readily available at farmer's markets and from their own gardens. During the winter months, when production is almost exclusively out of Mexico and Florida, the impact is felt more broadly." said Steffy.
From a supermarket standpoint, there has been a big shift from bulk green beans loose on display, to the promotion of the clean and snipped microwaveable pouch bags, usually branded or private label. The bags consist of the entire bean, where the ends are clipped and washed. There is a convenience factor that people are enjoying and although there is still demand for bulk green beans, there has definitely been a shift to the ready to use format in the last few years.
"We have seen a growth in the demand for organic green beans. The consumer base for the natural food and health food store channels who were buying tons of organic kale, are also showing increased demand for organic green beans. The demand continues to rise for the regular packaged product, while demand for the bulk beans has stayed static. What has changed the demand this winter the most is the supply situation." concludes Jonathan Steffy.
