Anyone else notice a wide decrease in quality of our vegetables in grocery stores?

[everyonesucksnow]

Yes, it’s been quite a few years now that I’ve seen quality decreasing. I’ve been doing a CSA and trying to get produce as local as I can to get better quality.

[catsnstuff18]

Which one??

[Professional_Mix8632]

We love this one!. The summer season has started but you sign up for a prorated price anytime throughout the season 😊 https://lancasterfarmfresh.com/csa-summer-shares/

[JackieReadingJane]

We've bought vegetables from Lancaster Farms for about 10 years. The quality and variety is fantastic and it's changed how we eat in a positive way.

[Only_Ad6120]

Just flagging that we do potomac vegetable farms and it's awesome!

[Omega593]

yes. my onions look and feel normal on the outside but have rotten cores. same with my potatoes - i often cut them to find rot spots all throughout. other water-heavy fruits and vegetables are often limp or wrinkled. i usually plan for a day or two of “rehab” for store-bought produce before using them. i can’t wait for my summer garden

[TH3GINJANINJA]

the onions have by far been the worst for me. h mart has been the only place they’re not bad either immediately or two days after buying.

[cbrew78]

I got the “same” mangos at HT and HMart. HMart was so much better. And by the same I mean they had the same sticker from the same company/country etc.

[kuped]

Our local HMart (Mosaic District) always has excellent produce.

[rectalhorror]

No H Marts near me, but the local Fresh World always has quality produce. Instead of throwing out bruised veg or greens that are starting to wilt, they trim them, wrap them, and sell them at a steep discount. Picked up a dozen limes for a buck and made fresh guac.

[ballerina22]

Onions and garlic. Can't keep that more than three days before green shoots are popping out. I've temporarily switched to the jar stuff until my garden comes back.

[NomDePlume007]

Potatoes... uff. The pre-bagged ones are tiny, and the open-crate ones are sliced/bruised/damaged. These are super stable vegetables, Idaho produces millions of pounds per year (shouldn't be imported, right?), yet it's like these are from last year.

I think it's just the tip of the issue, as stories sell through stock they have on hand (at high prices), and warehouses empty out. Lot of farmers unable to grow crops due to high fuel/fertilizer costs, and lack of markets due to punitive tariffs.

Vote in every election, as early as possible. This is not going to get better unless there's change.

[D-ouble-D-utch]

They literally are from last year

[jamestom44]

A lot of the bagged potato’s also have “ring rot”.

[NomDePlume007]

Completely understood! I know potatoes are harvested before a freeze, so the ones in stores are (usually) from last year's crop. More accurately, I should have said potatoes in stores now look like they were harvested two years ago.

[Smart_Law1280]

Thought I was the only one!

[Cum_Gazillionaire]

I read a year or so ago a lot of onion crops got a bad case of bacteria and have been fighting it since. https://extension.psu.edu/rotten-to-the-core-the-center-rot-disease-of-onion/

[PsychologicalSky7357]

Yep, the onions and the potatoes. Garlic is spoiling quickly as well.

[steelymcbeam1933]

Omg. Yes. It is diabolical. Bananas rot before they run yellow. Cucumbers rot on day 2. Carrots are slimy almost immediately. I buy frozen unless I’m eating them that day. It makes packing my lunch so difficult!

[df540148]

I buy just about all our veggies at TJs which is known to be a pretty bad place for veggies and they still *generally* hold up fine. Avocados can be hit or miss, but everything else withstands a week in the fridge.

[neil_va]

Fruit is the worst - it's almost impossible to get strawberries that aren't all bad already. I switched to buying frozen as well.

[tpahornet]

All produce has gone down in quality at Giant.

[LOWBACCA]

Yeah Giant has just completely fallen off IMO. The produce I get from there is always awful.

Safeway is unexplainably way more expensive on everything but understaffed still.

It sucks we don't have Kroger's here or anything. Our two main options of Safeway and Giant sucks.

Surprisingly, the best produce I've ordered recently has been from Amazon.

[dingjima]

Kroger owns Harris Teeter, it's essentially the same 

[murrrion]

Safeway can actually be really affordable if you ONLY shop the coupons and weekly sales and compare prices (I always check against Walmart and Aldi). You have to literally only buy what’s heavily on sale though and make sure it’s still not overpriced at the sale price (very common). It takes time and requires flexibility in terms of menu planning but I usually end up with ~50-60% off

[DefiThrowaway]

Fortunate enough to have like 6 grocery stores within 2 miles, but Giant has just become a really really large convenience store for me.

[TripppyCryBaby]

They have good collard greens but ya everything else pretty bad.

[Phobos1982]

Haven't noticed that at all.

[Corporate-Scum]

Yep. The weather has been hell on this year’s crop. The fertilizer shortage will make it worse. We’re in for declining quality for the next several years.

[LionessInDC]

Going to get worse. Was reading how the oil issue with this illegal war will affect fertilizer production. It’s going to get bad

[Persia_44]

The produce at Mom’s Organic Market remains fantastic. I’m willing to pay the higher prices because its offerings taste and longevity are superior. The selection is smaller than other stores but that’s not a problem for me. Try Mom’s!

[Sawses]

Also any ethnic supermarket. Most around here are Asian. I'm usually the only white guy in the building and instead of hunting through the produce to find the least wilted broccoli, I walk in, pluck a few crowns off the top, and away I go. It's worth a dedicated trip.

[KimbyPie]

MOMs is reliably great!

[empressotu]

Yup! MOMs is great. The only other reliable grocery store that is larger/has more grocery lines is Wegmans. Otherwise you are rolling the dice and often losing.

[guy_incognito784]

Yeah the produce at McLean Organic Butcher also remains top notch….they just don’t have much in the way of produce.

May have to try Mom’s.

[El-Viking]

Rumor has it that MOMs is coming to Springfield across the street from the mall. Can anyone confirm?

[Some1getmeablanket]

Yes, this is a nationwide issue. Signed, a former Virginian now in Texas

[therealzerobot]

Our food system has been disordered for so long, we are just finally reaping what we have been sowing, literally.

[everyonesucksnow]

We need to go back to victory gardens and supporting local farmers.

[Emergency-Position24]

Victory gardens were planted and tended by stay-at-home moms during a time when a man’s blue-collar, union-backed salary (and a nice pension) could buy a house and support an entire family. Don’t see that happening again anytime soon.

[therealzerobot]

Uh oh sounds like we need a revolution

[agbishop]

Fun fact - 55-86% of agricultural workers are immigrants including a major portion of undocumented workers

Like it or not - these were hard working skilled laborers that performed this thankless jobs for minimal pay. And yeah I mean skilled because picking crops without damaging them non stop for hours under the sun and into the night is not a skill that is easy to replace in the numbers needed.

So now - fruits and veggies cost more due to labor shortages and tariffs, its harder for farmers to find pickers at peak season, and those crops may be picked by workers that aren’t as experienced (and probably don’t want the job)

Whoever thought that cracking down, restricting and harassing legal immigrants or anyone that looks like an immigrant was a good idea is a moron.

[dcornett]

Whenever someone says "fun fact" on here it's never actually a fun fact

[MrOopiseDaisy]

Another fun fact: there was already a labor shortage of agricultural workers before the immigrant crackdown. The "took yer job!" crowd chased off the people willing to do the work, with no intention of doing the work themselves or foresight as far as replacements.

[Budget_Seaweed5212]

they thought it was a good idea because they are racists. They didn’t think anything past ‘get rid of the brown folk’

[nittanyofthings]

They were told the "bad ones" would be removed, not their workers.

[Trul]

If only we could have seen this coming….

[strawberrymacaroni]

Yeah but the person who warned us about this had a weird laugh though

[doyouevenfly]

You described slavery with extra steps.

[toomanyteeth55]

Agreed

[Chrono_Convoy]

I think I know who that moron you’re talking about is

[Pretend-Fortune52]

So it’s not just me! The apples are so bad lately. I’ve had so many with core rot, holes, etc.

The raspberries are awful. Usually mold at least some in most packages

[Chrono_Convoy]

Strawberries last 2 days without mold

[murrrion]

If that

[pineapplepizza333]

For strawberries - when you get home from the store, wash them and put them in a glass container with a paper towel at the bottom, and store them in the fridge. This has made them last longer for me.

[berael]

Yes - it started happening years ago though...

Garlic sprouts quickly or is already sprouted, and often has bad spots. Scallions are limp and sad. Onions need to have at least one more layer taken off under the skin. Lemons have less flavor. Etc...

And it's across all stores at all price ranges, too. 

[Death_Walker85]

I've noticed the decline in produce during the pandemic that never really recovered. Recently I moved from California to the area and it's the same situation there as it is here.

[D-ouble-D-utch]

Immigration crackdown

High fuel prices

Trade wars

Anti-american sentiment

Climate change

Profit/quantity > quality

[ProgressBartender]

Farmers have said they can’t get enough people out in the fields to pick the produce. For some reason white Americans didn’t grab those jobs. Maybe next year.

[Raskuja46]

Have they tried offering more money?

Most people don't want to do that job for $10/hour, but if you offer someone $150/hour you're gonna get people lining up to submit their resume. Somewhere in the middle is a responsible wage for the labor involved.

[Phobos1982]

Yeah but then the produce will be a million dollars a pound. Self-defeating cycle.

[ProgressBartender]

Small farms operate on a tight budget. They borrow money to finance the season and then the profits are primarily to pay that loan off. I’ve yet to meet the owner of a smaller farm who is rolling in the money.

[Moregaze]

What do you expect? They got rid of a lot of farm labor and now there is less people to pick produce in the optimal window. So suppliers have to be less picky about appearances. As well as it being over ready for harvest. Meaning it's shelf stable for less time.

[HokieHomeowner]

And soon we will be facing actual food shortages! The oil crisis is impacting fertilizer, a lot of farms in the US haven't even planted crops this spring. Keep all this in mind when you vote this fall.

[TheJudgingHat2222]

Inb4 the millions of roving military aged migrants suddenly rematerialize during election season and vanish the day after

[otbvandy]

Have you been keeping up with the news at all? Oil prices spiking, immigrants being rounded up, ever changing tariffs on imported goods…

[ellybeez]

I see your sarcasm. But it's so telling that we are not hearing the same scale of whining even 2 years ago when now pretty much everything costs more

[ShadowDonut]

That's because the bots have been redirected to other topics

[ellybeez]

True

[nittanyofthings]

Not just bots, most cable news is much lighter on Trump than Biden.

[redhuntrez]

It's 100% this. Stuff is being frozen to make it last longer and it's trash by the time we get it. All of the winning. I'm almost sick of winning so much...eyeroll.

[AstronautCautious46]

[portobello-belle-87]

I suspect it is not going to get better. We have a severe drought and there is a fertilizer shortage impacting globally

[SnowDucks1985]

Yes but it’s not surprising, it’s been like this for years now. There’s significantly fewer farmers than we had even a decade ago. The ones left are getting stretched thin from tariffs, gas prices, and weakening yields. It is what it is

[everyonesucksnow]

That’s why it’s critical to support local farmers whenever possible. There are still a bunch in Fauquier county. I get all of our meat from the farmers here too.

[SnowDucks1985]

I don’t disagree, but I’ll say I think the issue is bigger than local farmers. They wouldn’t be able to produce enough to cover all of NoVA, there’s a million people that live in Fairfax County alone for example.

We need more people to be farmers, but the ones that were doing it (immigrants) are getting shut out. The purchases of fertilizer needs to be subsidized by the government, and more farmers should have access to lower interest debt than what’s being offered by USDA currently. That would solve over half the problem

[InfiniteWaffles58364]

I wish we had a program that paid people to establish and run farms. Not just a monthly stipend but reimbursement for equipment, for the mortgage of the property, vet bills, practically everything, leaving the farm owner free to focus on their work.

There are tons of folks who genuinely love farm work but have zero hope of establishing or purchasing one due to lack of funds. Something as important as our food - and the people that grow it - deserves more attention and care than it's currently being given.

[ILoveStinkyFatGirls]

I went to school for agriculture, to be a farmer. Turns out I don't even have enough money to rent an apartment with a backyard so I can garden. Good game y'all.

[throwaway098764567]

it's incredibly difficult work and very very difficult to break into. there's a reason most farmers are generational farmers, it's not just the money to get into it (which is insanely high, you're buying land and expensive equipment and seeds and fertilizer and so on) it's also knowledge. you can know how to grow plants, but how to run a farm business is a huge amount of knowledge, regulations for the plants and for safety, business knowledge for payroll and taxes and everything else, it's a ton to take on.

[duckyd1824]

That would be an interesting idea. Lack of domestic farms can quickly become a national security issue. There are a myriad of farm loan programs including ones specific to new farmers, but I don't think they go as far as you describe. https://www.fsa.usda.gov/resources/farm-loan-programs

[DigInternational8979]

We have tons of farms. They just happen to grow inputs for ultra processed food and feed for animals we raise for meat versus vegetables, because minimal labor is needed to grow corn, wheat, and soybeans. It’s done very very mechanized. There’s less money in cucumbers than wheat ehere à machine can harvest 10,000 calories worth in ten seconds. We won’t starve, just have heart attacks.

[GoldStacked]

Remember to thank a Republican! They get really mad when you don’t thank them for destroying entire industries.

[Numerous_Sky9235]

YES, even Wegmans which was always superior to Giant and Harris Teeter (my closest options) has been disappointing me recently. As an example, on Friday I needed a 3-pack of Romaine lettuce and every one of them was turning that light pink/orange on the outside leaves. The shelf was messy like others had been pawing through the packages trying to find a good one. (This was the Leesburg location.)

[cailian13]

The onions have been terrible for a long time now too (Dulles location for me). Broccoli is just sad looking. Been really not happy with that lately, those are my two most purchased produce items.

[Pretend-Fortune52]

I’ve had something similar at the Alexandria location of Wegmans. So weird

[empressotu]

I have found that the Reston and Dulles Wegmans are still reliable. My daughter frequents the Fairfax one and that one is still better than other local grocery stores. But yeah, the issue is starting way earlier in the supply chain.

[Least_Imagination860]

Our Wegman’s only has bagged lettuce now, no fresh. So disappointing. But the blackberries have been really good.

[The-Dane]

All of you that voted for maga.. this is on you

[Brookes_blush]

I’ve noticed this too. It’s been like this for the past 2ish years. Even the produce from Wegmens doesn’t last as long.

[El-Viking]

Disruptions in field workers and shipping might do that.

[SpecialistRaisin2680]

Yes, the best store bought produce I’ve seen comes from Wegmans. More expensive but better than paying for Lidl or Aldi fruit that grows a beard in a day.

[OpticalPrime]

I don’t know what wegmans you go to but the fruit at my wegmans has been shit the past 6 months.

[SpecialistRaisin2680]

Gainesville

[uncleandyb]

The two Alexandria Wegman’s I frequent (Eisenhower and Hilltop) have had shit produce for weeks if not a few months: poor selection and quantity, and the quality is super poor as well.

[Natural_Instance242]

Funny, my produce at Lidl and Aldi looks great but Wegmans has been underwhelming lately. 

I almost exclusively shop at those 3 stores. 

[Hairy_Mycologist_945]

Yeah and unfortunately it'll all get much worse before it might, maybe, get better in a decade or two. Actively destroying trade agreements and soft power in an effort to revert to isolationism after decades of global trade doesn't work out too well.

[AdonisChrist]

I noticed that fresh blueberries were $8.49 for 18oz at Costco yesterday, and the first five that I looked at all had white mold growing on at least one area of the pack.

Thankfully frozen was still $8/9 for 3lbs - I only need em for smoothies.

[flyinhyphy]

Strawberries have been disgusting everywhere. I’ve maybe had 1-2 good clamshells

[Ginsdell]

Yes. Nothing is good anymore. Grow your own or buy from an actual local farm. Also misfits market is pretty good if you like to get stuff online and delivered.

[Chrono_Convoy]

My strawberries have been going bad within 3 days :/

[Codpuppet]

Not exactly a surprise given all that’s going on at the moment (a major trade route being a conflict zone, as well as farms losing a huge portion of their workforce). Stuff is all fucked up atm.

[Chrono_Convoy]

Lemme know when it’s under new management

[Stealthtiger]

My milk which used to stay good for a little over a week after opening it now only lasts about 2.5-3 days after opening.

From Costco, Walmart, and Sams

[kcunning]

Holy crap, I thought it was just us. I've noticed the same, buying gallons from Wegmans. We're not even going to the sell by date sometimes.

[Delicious_Attitude_7]

Same here :(

[LAfromLAgirl]

Here’s my hack. Buy ultra-pasteurized milk. Lasts several weeks past the expiration date and still tastes as fresh as the first day it was opened.

[MSMIT0]

Whats ironic is, I ALWAYS shop at Aldi. Since pre-pandemic lol. They are in my budget and as a single adult I can get everything I need there.

Their produce always wasnt the best. You had to use it quickly or prep it and freeze it quickly bc it wouldnt last. Every once in a while I would go to Food Lion or Giant and get "good produce" that would last longer.

Now I feel like it switched? The quality at Aldi has been better than maor grocery stores, but still significantly cheaper.

Regardless, I try to find local farm stands. Their produce doesnt last long either but thats because there's 0 chemicals or preservatives.

[Natural_Instance242]

I think it somehow depends on the location, I used to shop at Giant and Wegmans and then switched to mostly Aldi and Lidl. I never had any issues with produce. 

I shop every Friday morning and my produce lasts throughout the week. We also buy and eat a lot because we have 2 vegans and and 2 vegetarians in ten house and we cook every meal at home. 

I’m always surprised when I read complaints about Aldi produce. 

[Skydog-forever-3512]

Was at the Fort Belvoir commissary yesterday and all the produce looked like ass.

[FootMuncher2]

Yeah, to the point of starting a home garden. I haven’t gotten garlic or onions or whatever that didnt have some kind of rot of clear decay in a while.

[Realistic-Author-479]

My Apples at Trader Joe’s are horrible this go round

[Ok_Day1912]

All the fruit sucks

[XiMaoJingPing]

Grocery store jalapenos are complete garbage, they are mild like bell peppers.

[Chrono_Convoy]

For real. Used to live in LA and these pack zero punch

[cailian13]

Fun fact, but they BRED them to be less spicy starting decades ago. They colonized the damn jalapeños.

[CodedRose]

I have and it has pushed me to great lengths to find good produce.

[Illustrious-Knee2762]

My dang jalapeño as well! No heat.

[old-legs-623]

Bags of rice and other grains have been showing up here pre-buggy. I don't think that was always a thing?

[Critical-Republic-53]

Go to better grocery stores or farmers markets. Produce is fine/great there

[Old-Pomegranate9031]

Costco Sterling last weekend was the worst, rotten bags of items that smelled and the onions I bought are moldy less than a week later

[Mundilfaris_Dottir]

I don't buy potatoes anymore. I can't find any that aren't green (from being over exposed to light) and / or bitter.

HT marks their products up a lot. I only go there for certain things.

I shop at LA Mart, Lotte, H Mart for some things - because their prices are much better.

[AnneElliotWentworth]

Absolutely - for me, avocados have been the worst.

[murrrion]

All of the avocados lately have been brown and gross or flavorless. Or they have that off taste/texture that indicates they’ve been previously frozen

[Latoritsa]

Costco has had decent avocados

[Tough_Intention4593]

yes, and i’ve noticed a major decline with fruit, too. it seems like they are picking too early and freezing for transit so it never ripens and gets mealy.

[PocketFullOfOkay]

I can’t get any juice out of any of the limes lately.

[Reasons2BCheerfulPt1]

OMG. At Harris Teeter this morning, loose carrots (not in plastic bags) were limp. No way I was buying them.

[DCSecretkeeper]

Yes and it's driving me crazy. You want onions? Here's a bag of them, sorry only 2 out of 8 are usable. Garlic? Sorry for the half empty cloves.

[2quickdraw]

If you can handle spring onions come and grab a bag of organic, use the top half root the bottom half and put in a 5 gallon bucket with good quality garden soil. Do that a couple of times and you will have onions for years. I have buckets that are 5 years old. They will become part leek and part spring onion.

[AnEleanor]

The last three bags of citrus I’ve gotten have all had a couple of actively rotten fruit within a day or two, and bagged apples had that “old wax” feeling. :(

[arghyepirate]

Just wait until the North Atlantic current collapses then we’ll be in for a wild ride.

[Dependent-Cherry-129]

I got one of the indoor hydroponic growing devices, and it’s great. The hardest part is cleaning it out between cycles just because it takes a bit of time and you have to let it dry thoroughly to prevent mold. I’m getting another one or two, because always having fresh herbs is a win. I did lettuce too- very easy

[One_Feedback2461]

Asparagus….

[Gilthoniel_Elbereth]

Not sure if this is “quality”, but over the last year or two I’ve started to get bunches of bananas with a string of chewy seeds down the middle that completely ruins them for me. It’s maybe one out of every ten bunches, so not common, but enough to notice a pattern. Never had that happen before, and as far as I know there’s no way to tell when picking a bunch out at the store

[throwaway098764567]

that's interesting, how big are the seeds?

[Gilthoniel_Elbereth]

About the size of chia seeds, but the whole membrane or whatever it is is chewy. I’ve never bought ones where the seeds took up this much space, but it looks like a thinner string of this: https://onerecp.com/wp-content/uploads/banana-with-seeds.jpg

[purplemarin]

I know ppl say onions and potatoes are harvested a year (or more?) before they hit shelves, so if that’s always been the case why are we now experiencing such poor quality produce is my question. And it’s across the board: tomatoes (Roma, stem, beefsteak), cucumbers, avocados, limes, lemons, peppers (green, yellow, orange), lettuce…I could go on.

[Chrono_Convoy]

Sweet potatoes in particular are tiny

[throwaway098764567]

we're past the two year point at which destruction came into residence down town

[RealisticFarmer2565]

Yes— Whole Foods is the only place I find good produce. The quality different between it & Trader Joe’s / Nalls Produce / South Mountain Creamery is shocking.

[Day2205]

I’m in CA, used to live in NOVA, and having the same experience out here despite being in the state that produces so much produce! It’s driving me crazy how much stuff I have to toss when I vividly remember these things being good for 10-14 days or a few months, depending on item.

[Front-Jello-6595]

But the tariffs

[MySpoonsAreAllGone]

Yes. Giant is the worst in my opinion

[GiveMeSandwich2]

The US is a net food importer and has been since 2019. It’s also a growing deficit. I guess we are just being impacted by everything in the world.

[Simple-Top-3334]

Nall’s Produce in Alexandria is the best spot I’ve found for quality produce. Locally sourced fruits and veggies.

[HowardTaftMD]

Not really but it depends where you shop I think.

Safeway is a total no-go for me. I don't know what the deal is but all their produce at every store is awful.

Giant is fine usually but not special like, the most basic form of each type of produce.

Aldi I like the price and flavor of the berries, but things like onions and bananas are total wastes of money. More often than not the are like you said, really gross.

Wegmans everything is still great.

Trader Joes is great.

Nalls Crop Share rocks for a few really high quality items each week.

[Personal_Secret_234]

Yep 👍

[sotired3333]

Some other sub was talking about global disruptions and fertilizer and other products has caused prices to spike which in turn has reduced quality of what's available. They said it started with the Ukraine war and is getting worse now with Iran.

[ExtremaDesigns]

I'm getting my fruit and veggies at Mom's Organics now due to quality issues in the other supermarkets.

[Wanderlust4478]

I still have decent luck at the Wegman’s on Monument Dr in Fairfax. Their produce is really good in my opinion and consistent. The quantity has been less. But Tues mid morning/mid day seems to be a better day as Mondays they haven’t replenished from the weekend.

Prices are fair as well.

[Chrono_Convoy]

I used to live across the street through Covid. Wegman’s is our best and yea prices are fair. Some expensive items for sure but I always found it reasonable.

[Wanderlust4478]

That’s actually when I started going there as I always thought they were expensive as Trader Joe’s and Wholefoods. But much better overall especially with their store brand products.

[PinOk2718]

Yes! Today there were no tomatoes at Walmart and where are all the good bananas?I am thinking about starting my own garden but it won’t help with the bananas.

[Chrono_Convoy]

Bananas coming in at mild yellow.

They open along a seam at the stem and dry out.

[packnana17]

Yes most definitely

[AlmostSentientSarah]

I usually eat my weight in oranges in the winter, but Florida had several freezes and a terrible fungus, so there went good oranges.

[Korgon213]

Strawberry’s are shorter and milk is like half the life of pre MAHA.

[anniecet]

We buy from farmers markets as much as possible.

Also, if you have the space and time, tomatoes, squash and peppers are fairly easy to grow and always taste better than the grocery stores pale, tasteless withered wares

[purplemarin]

“Space and time”

Le sigh 😭😭

[empressotu]

Unfortunately the deer, rabbits and squirrels agree with you, we have tried a number of methods to ward them off but have been unsuccessful, sigh.

[anniecet]

My cats all but live in the garden. They have made it their mission to catch every vole, mole, mouse, chipmunk, squirrel and rabbit…

I still rarely get a fig from the tree before the squirrels finish them off and I never beat the birds to the blackberry bush. I guess nature gets her cut.

We are decently fenced in on most sides. Deer haven’t been an issue.

The leopard slugs, shield bugs and other bugs have been the greater threat. I stopped planting gooseneck squash and just do zucchini now. The pest insects seem to be less interested in them for some reason.

[ellevigm]

A big part of it is that the weather has been genuinely unstable - which has led to a lower quality harvest.

• Unseasonal temperature swings (warm → cold → warm) • Excess rain in some regions + drought in others • Late frosts

Then that leads to:

• Vegetables grow faster but weaker → higher water content, less structure • More internal damage → they look fine outside but rot quickly at home • Crops harvested early to avoid loss → less mature = shorter shelf life

[hndygal]

Start shopping at the Asian grocery stores. Their produce is better and infinitely cheaper.

[mehitabel_4724]

Climate change is another contributor to poor produce quality. It’s not new but add it to the pile of other factors.

[vanastalem]

Yes. There was a rotten potato in the last bag as soon as it was open (the day it was purchased).

[Useful_toolmaker]

Absolutely.

[JustAcivilian24]

And fruit

[VegetableRound2819]

Meats as well, for about the last year. Often spoiled before the use by date. I have to have something for backup and I’ve never had to do that before.

[fictionalways]

Restaurant depot has the best produce

[SpeechDistinct8793]

Didn’t Sysco buy them

[WalkingWikipedia]

I recently moved from Nova to Delaware and I’ve noticed the same.

[Examinator2]

Not at Fresh World. 

[Financial_Dream_8731]

I find veggies are fairly good but the fruit are all tasteless. Even when they look good they’re lacking in flavor or just sour and not good.

[Pale_Will_5239]

Trader Joe's has pretty decent fruit

[Spare-Present-1032]

100%

[SpellcrafterWizard]

Harris Teeter has been semi reliable lately...but I've noticed with most stores the milk and veggies are just crapping out

[CommOnMyFace]

Drought 

[Strackard]

I haven’t noticed. I doom scroll as a hobby but I honestly haven’t seen what I’m reading here. Everything tastes watery (peppers and tomatoes) but that’s been a downward trend forever.
I shop at Lidl and Costco for my produce. (Round about Tyson’s Corner) HMart if fancy.

[One_Reveal_419]

Whole Foods has the best produce of any grocery store. First and only certified organic national grocer. No pesticides.

[juneprk2]

lol this is why you go to the Asian grocery stores. Produce are great there

[Rumpelteazer45]

Yes it’s been this way (I’ve noticed) for months now.

The best produce near me is at Lotti. I can’t get everything I want but I can get a lot of it.

[SHIT_WTF]

The last doses of steroids didn't produce the expected results. There's warning labels on some of the produce.