Carrot is the new tomato after a 121% price jump; see memes

​In April 2013, the tomato became a meme on the internet after the vegetable price soared in the market. Nine years later, the Brazilian salad is still expensive, but with a new villain: the carrot.

Those who go to the fair today have to pay more than twice as much to buy the same amount they took home a year ago. According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), the carrot accumulates a high of 121.64% in the last 12 months, and, in March alone, the value of the vegetable rose 45.65% compared to the previous month.

In some places, a kilo of vegetables reached almost R$ 20, generating several memes on the networks.

The rise in prices was mainly caused by heavy rains that hit important producing regions at the beginning of the year, generating losses and, consequently, a shortage in supply.

“When it rains a lot, producers find it difficult to bring machinery into the fields, and that’s exactly what happened this year”, explains Marina Marangon, a researcher at Cepea (Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics).

According to her, the weather in February meant that producers were unable to plant or harvest properly, putting pressure on supply in the following months. “The impact is not just immediate. So much so that March was not one of the rainiest months, but it reflected what happened before,” she says.

São Gotardo (MG), for example, suffered from rains far above average. As the main carrot-producing region in the country, losses in the harvest made it difficult to supply nationally.

Another reason for carrot inflation is investments in the field. According to Marangon, many producers ended up reducing investment in planted area for 2022 and 2023 due to the good harvest obtained last year.

“In 2021, the weather was different – drier at the beginning -, which favored production and generated excess supply”, he says.

Carrot price hit record

According to Cepea, the carrot reached the highest value since the beginning of the historical series, in 2008. Although the variation in the price of food is the most abrupt, other vegetables have also suffered the impact of the weather in recent months.

Of the 15 highest increases measured by the IPCA-15 (National Index of Extended Consumer Prices 15) in March, 14 sub-items are vegetables or fruits. The exception is perfume, in 12th place, with a variation of 12.84% in relation to the previous month.

Marangon explains that, during the summer, it is common for the supply of these foods to be lower due to excess humidity and high temperatures. “Vegetables end up being more affected and we have higher prices in this period”, he says. “As it rained a lot at the beginning of the year, it ended up affecting more,” he adds.

Carrot will continue

According to the researcher, the price of carrots has already reached a very high level, and will hardly suffer new increases. However, the forecast is that it will remain at a high level, as the rain reflexes should take time to disappear.

“The carrots that are about to be harvested have been affected. [no clima]we can see holes [na oferta] due to the producers not being able to plant due to the excessive rain”, he says.

“This entire crop that runs until June may have been impacted by what happened in February.”

Carrot necklace and other memes

On the internet, people expressed outrage over the price of carrots in a variety of ways. Some took the opportunity to blame the government for inflation and show concern for the poorest population:

Others vented through humor. Presenter Ana Maria Braga wore a necklace to “protest against abusive prices”:

On Twitter, some netizens also expressed concern about the Easter Bunny and reported missing the carrot cake:

Surprise and despair also set the tone for the memes on the social network: