year. In the 1977-78 growing season the value of these crops amounted

to $224 million and represented 10 percent of total returns for all

Florida vegetable crops. But the growth and nature of import competition

suggest depressed returns for Florida producers in the future unless

domestic demand expands rapidly enough to accommodate increasing supplies

without price deterioration.

 Analyzing Florida's competitive position vis-a-vis Mexican vegetable

exports requires an understanding of how prices, production, marketing

and imports evolve both within the crop year and across crop years.

Pronounced seasonality in production and import movements means that

annual averages may mask important price variations affecting seasonal

supply responses. To investigate the forces responsible for seasonal

price fluctuations a quarterly price determination model has been specified.

Particular interest currently is focused on how the timing and magnitude

of vegetable imports impact on Florida wholesale vegetable prices.

 The first phase of this study is aimed at quantifying short-run

(quarterly) supply response and price determination mechanisms for

Florida and Mexican vegetables marketed in the United States. Acreages

planted to vegetables in Florida and Mexico are treated exogenously

since it is presumed that producers base their planting decisions on

previously observed factors extending one or more years in the past. The

short-run component of supply response recognizes that domestic market-

ings and imports depend on current prices as well as numerous non-market

phenomena. Higher prices should act to encourage more thorough harvest-

ing practices and act to ease any restrictive grading procedures. To

this extent harvesting and shipping rates are varied during the quarter.