Rohan Moorjani, an AGB senior, participated in the 2nd Annual CAFES Spring Student Research Symposium held on Friday, May 10th.  The research Rohan presented at the Symposium is titled "The Impact of Volatile Fuel Prices and Truck Rates on Produce Purchases among U.S. Households".  His advisors are Drs. Xiaowei Cai, Ricky Volpe, and Christiane Schroeter. In this study, Rohan and his advisors assess how increased volatility in energy prices and truck rates could influence consumers’ fruit and vegetable purchasing decisions in regional U.S. markets. Their econometric findings suggest that truck rate has a larger negative impact on produce expenditures on the east coast comparing to the west coast. Their findings contribute to ongoing policy discussions with respect to recommending increased consumption of fruits and vegetables among Americans. Their analysis provides potential implications for consumers and participants in the produce supply chain by determining how price transmission in the food systems could affect U.S. consumers’ fruit and vegetable purchases across geographic markets. This research is funded through the campus ARI competitive grant.