In April, the price of tomatoes was around $2.69 per pound — the highest seen in some four decades. And tomatoes aren&#x27;t the only food getting more expensive. From cauliflower to lettuce, fresh produce is spiking all over the place. So what&#x27;s driving the price spike? And what can tomatoes teach us teach about America&#x27;s political economy including changes in trade and tariffs? Our guest today is Jacob Krempel, senior vice president of procurement and merchandising at the wholesale food distributor Baldor, and an expert in securing fresh produce. We talk to him about where America&#x27;s tomato supply actually comes from, why consumers are paying more and more, how restaurants navigate price fluctuations, and the influx of novel new tomato varieties. Read more: The Recipe for a Power Restaurant Has Changed The Latest Snack Innovations Are Basically Just Creamsicles and Chex Mix Only Bloomberg - Business News, Stock Markets, Finance, Breaking &amp; World News subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots Subscribe to the Odd Lots Newsletter Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why Tomatoes Are the Most Expensive They've Been in Four Decades

Odd Lots

# Full Transcript

**Podcast:** Odd Lots

## Participants

- **Tracy Alloway** (None)
- **Joe Weisenthal** (None)
- **Jacob Kremple** (Baldor Specialty)

## Transcript

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[SPEAKER_12] Hello and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots podcast. I'm Tracy Alloway.

[SPEAKER_08] And I'm Joe Weisenthal.

[SPEAKER_12] Joe, I know you love tomatoes.

[SPEAKER_08] I love tomatoes. Oh my God. I love tomatoes. I love tomatoes so much.

[SPEAKER_12] This is the episode. Just Joe talking about how he loves tomatoes.

[SPEAKER_08] Well, there's a funny one because like this is a you episode, you know, you like book, you're like, oh, let's do a tomato episode, which I'm glad you did because I love tomatoes so much. But you're going to make it your episode, aren't you? Yeah. But it's not like, but I don't know anything about tomatoes. I just love eating them. Like when I was a kid, like growing up in like Exurban, Illinois, you know, I had terrible tomatoes growing up. So I hated tomatoes. What, from the supermarket? From the grocery store. Right, okay. So I thought tomatoes are like the worst vegetable on the planet. Well, they're not. Well, I thought they were just-

[SPEAKER_12] Are you going to correct yourself and say they're not a vegetable?

[SPEAKER_08] They're a fruit. You know, so I'm just going to go on because I'm going to take this episode over. But like, you know, I've once heard someone say that like knowledge is knowing that tomato is a vegetable and wisdom is kn...

Why Tomatoes Are the Most Expensive They've Been in Four Decades

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
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Why Tomatoes Are the Most Expensive They've Been in Four Decades

Transcript

Built for investment professionals

Every day you wait, your competitors are findingedge in conversations you're not hearing.

Every day you wait, your competitors are finding
edge in conversations you're not hearing.