URBANA, Ill. — If one is looking for the best prices available for Big Boys and Better Girls tomatoes at various farmers’ markets in Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, researchers have just the tracking survey for them. Designed primarily to give fruit and vegetable growers a handle on current prices for various commodities at selected markets, the new price survey tracks what tomatoes, onions, squash and other fresh summer products fetch each week during the season.

While begun to benefit farmers, the price charts also can give consumers an idea of what items are going for at other nearby markets. But the main reason the University of Illinois extension staff, along with counterparts at the universities of Kentucky and Tennessee, did this was to give growers an up-to-date reference on average prices.

"Having access to this pricing information allows farmers to better understand how to set prices that support profitability of their farm, while remaining fair to consumers and competitive with other producers," said U of I extension educator Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, who is overseeing the Illinois portion of the survey. Each weekly report is available online at the three institutions’ ag websites.

Up to 30 different commodities are tracked each week and some of the price differences can be substantial. Sweet corn, for instance, can be had at the Henderson County Farmers’ Market in Kentucky for $4 a dozen. Sweet corn at the market serving Burlington and Florence in Boone County, Ky., however, was priced at $6 a dozen at last week’s market.

In Illinois, cucumbers cost 75 cents each last week at the Harrisburg Farmers’ Market in southern Illinois, and about two hours north at the Mattoon Farmers’ Market, those same cucumbers were $1.25 each, but you could get five pickling cukes for just $1.

Tomato prices are all over the board in all three states. At the Morristown Farmers’ Market in Hamblen County, Tenn., slicing tomatoes run $1.25 per pound. They are 25 cents per pound more at the Lewisburg Farmers’ Market in Marshall County.

In Illinois, slicing tomatoes at Urbana’s Market on the Square cost $3 a pound, the same price last week at the Quincy Farmer’s Market in western Illinois.

Green pepper prices also varied in several locations last week. They cost just 67 cents each at the Lexington Farmers’ Market in Kentucky, but they would have set you back at $1 each at the Bolivar Farmer’s Market in Tennessee.