• Dearche@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    The quality of potatoes feel like it’s dropped quite a bit this year.

    On top of that, corn’s been pretty expensive lately too due to the US redirecting so much of it into biofuel.

    On the other hand, mushrooms, vegetables, and fruits have been reasonably cheap, though a lot of the fruit haven’t tasted very good.

    • Swim@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Ya I usually only eat seeded watermelon because it actually has flavor,but this year they’ve tasted like seedless watermelon,aka flavorless.

      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Where do you even get those? I can never find them in Montreal.

        Years ago they had some at NoFrills in Toronto, but when I brought one home, it was just another seedless shit. I’ve complained the next day and asked them to open one up in front of me from the seeded bin and sure enough it was seedless as well.

      • Pxtl@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I had some mini ones last week. Seedless and still excellent. Maybe try the minis?

    • Wahots@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I dunno where everyone is, but potatoes grow like a weed in pacific northwestern climates. Plant them one year and you will get potatoes for years and years afterwards. And they are good too, you can get big ones. Just throw some water on them occasionally.

      Apparently, raspberry bushes also grow like weeds, even in 3b regions (Montana, in this case)

    • Rocket@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      On top of that, corn’s been pretty expensive lately too

      Corn was expensive when it was looking like the drought in the corn belt was going to destroy the crop, but the rains came at the right time and the price came tumbling down after. Local cash bids were up to $9.80 just last month. Now we’re looking at $6.38. That’s a huge drop. The Chicago price isn’t even $5 anymore.

      due to the US redirecting so much of it into biofuel.

      Not really. Biofuels shy away pretty quickly when the price goes up. There isn’t much inelasticity there like there is among food buyers. Corn has been driven by that derecho a couple years back wiping out a lot the crop, coupled with European fertilizer plant shutdowns just before Russia invaded Ukraine – which also impacted access to Russian fertilizer, along with those drought fears this year.

      That said, given the rest of the comment, I get the feeling that you are actually talking about sweet corn rather than corn? Sweet corn is not directed to biofuel. It’s more like $30 per bushel instead of $5. Biofuel flat out couldn’t afford it, even if it wanted.