Growing for Wholesale: Vegetable Grading/Sizing Templates
Robert Hadad, Extension Vegetable Specialist
Cornell Vegetable Program
To further assist farmers looking to sell into wholesale markets, the Cornell Vegetable Program has put together some helpful tools. The tools provided here consist of a color photo guide highlighting the grades of some of the most common vegetables grown for wholesale market in WNY.
To aid in the visualization of the grading sizes, the crop templates provided below are scaled to size (8.5 x 11 paper). They can be printed and used to create sizing templates to be used by workers on the wash and pack lines.
The accompanying PowerPoint PDF found below, Making the Grade: Grading and Packing Fresh Produce, will give growers an overview of what buyers are looking for and why. Selling wholesale isn't for every grower and having the information to make these important decisions is crucial.
For more information within the Cornell Vegetable Program region of WNY, contact Robert Hadad.
Other resources are United States Standards and Grades, Purdue Agriculture - Illustrated Guides to Grading Vegetables, and UC Davis Produce Quality Rating Scales and Color Charts - Postharvest Technology Center.
Bell Pepper: U.S. Fancy (pdf; 494KB)
Bell Pepper: U.S. No. 1 (pdf; 588KB)
Bell Pepper: U.S. No. 2 (pdf; 585KB)
Broccoli (pdf; 577KB)
Brussels Sprouts (pdf; 479KB)
Cauliflower (pdf; 569KB)
Cucumber: U.S. Fancy (pdf; 518KB)
Cucumber: U.S. Large (pdf; 517KB)
Cucumber: Slicers (pdf; 586KB)
Eggplant (pdf; 559KB)
Potatoes (pdf; 512KB)
Tomaotes (pdf; 481KB)
Zucchini and Summer Squash (pdf; 719KB)
Set of All Vegetable Sizing Templates (pdf; 3996KB)
- Download this file if you wish to have 1 file containing all 13 templates
Making the Grade: Grading and Packing Fresh Produce (PPT) (pdf; 1016KB)
Asparagus
Beets
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Cucumbers
Dry Beans
Eggplant
Ethnic Vegetables
Garlic
Horseradish
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuce / Leafy Greens
Melons
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Peppers
Potatoes
Pumpkins / Gourds
Radishes
Rhubarb
Rutabaga
Snap Beans
Squash - Summer
Squash- Winter
Sweet Corn
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Turnips
Upcoming Events
Niagara Region Vegetable Meeting
August 14, 2024
Clarence Center, NY
We'll start this meeting off at Root Down Farm to hear late season disease management updates in peppers and cole crops, plus current best management practices to limit fungicide resistance. Potato variety recommendations and disease control questions in potatoes will be addressed.
Then we'll head to Kreher's beet field to view and discuss alternative weed control technologies. The beet field is an on-farm demonstration of various flame weeding protocols in comparison with stacked tool cultivation equipment. One or two weeding robots will be on-hand for live demonstrations and discussion of the technology's current abilities and future potential. We'll also cover industry updates and a review of late summer disease management in squash.
2.0 DEC credits will be available in categories 23, 1a, and 10.
2024 Chipping Potato Twilight Meeting
August 20, 2024
Dansville, NY
Join us for a brief, on-farm meeting including insect pest updates and viewing of the chipping potato variety trial. 1.0 DEC credits in categories 10, 1a, and 23 will be offered. Dinner follows!