Habits in fresh produce consumption: Are seasonal increases in marketing efforts necessary?

Increasing pressures on profitability in the produce industry necessarily raise the question of how costs can be lowered. Among regular expenditures are beginning-of-season marketing efforts designed to rebuild demand for produce that was temporarily unavailable domestically. However, if off-season imports help create a consumption habit for fresh produce, it makes sense that the produce industry could retarget its marketing expenditures toward more suitable goals. This article examines U.S. demand for table grapes, differentiated by source, using a two-stage model of consumer demand. Results show that, over nearly three decades, U.S. consumers developed habits in grape consumption and that largely off-season imports from Chile did indeed contribute to increased per capita sales by U.S. growers. Seasonal marketing expenditures need to be reconsidered.