Recession?

I think everyone has been hit by the recession in some way. It is glaringly obvious in some, but in others you have too look a little bit to notice. I have recently been shopping at a local market that sells local produce and I was a little disturbed by what I found. The first thing I bought were Brussel Sprouts. I love to roast them in a hot, hot oven with garlic and olive oil until they are nice and caramelized. Sooo good!
Nothing odd here, just your basic sprout.

What the? Huh, those are quite small now that I think about it.....

Ok, well they may be on the small side but that just means I don't have to cut them in half to roast! See there is a silver lining to everything! Next on the list is another of my favorite things to roast, also with garlic and olive oil. Mmmm double good!

I love, love, love sweet potatoes! Probably more than white potatoes!

Again, they seem a little on the small side.... :) Seriously, these were CRAZY small. It was like a fingerling potato, only the sweet version.

So I came up with 2 theories. The first being the farmers are struggling so much, they are being forced to to pick their crops early in order to make money. The second being that since I am buying local and in Vegas, there is simply not enough water for the crops to grow any bigger. We are in a desert after all. To add to that theory, maybe these crops are not being poisoned with chemicals or injected with growth hormones and this is how a normal crop should look! What do you think?

On that note, I am on a mission to try something new every time I go to the grocery store. This week I went with the Prickly Pear.
Has anyone had one of these before?