
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 1, 1995                   TAG: 9502020011
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FARMERS' PRICES FOR LETTUCE, BROCCOLI FALL

Farmers received lower prices for their goods in January after prices for lettuce and broccoli settled down from the previous month, the Agriculture Department reported Tuesday.

The overall index of prices fell 1 percent from December to January, caused also by declines in the price of milk and wheat. Prices rose for cattle, hogs, cotton and tomatoes.

Prices fell 6.7 percent from January 1994, as year-to-year price decreases for corn, soybeans, hogs and milk more than offset increases for cotton, lettuce, celery and strawberries.

Growers had received record prices for broccoli and lettuce in December because of weather problems in California and Arizona. Those problems have abated.

As a result, the commercial vegetables portion of the index fell 19 percent from December. But it was still 17 percent above a year ago.

Lettuce fell to $16.50 a hundredweight after hitting $37.50 the previous month. Lettuce is the chief vegetable marketed in January, so the decline drove down the index.

Broccoli fell to a more nearly normal seasonal price of $22.20 a hundredweight after $45.30 the previous month.

by CNB