Close Watch on the U.S. Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Supply

Production of fresh fruit and vegetables in the U.S. continues to change with the times. The numbers tell a tale of declining exports and rising imports. Texas A&M AgriLife colleagues Landyn Young and Luis Ribera have taken a look at the factors affecting the fresh fruit and vegetable supply in the U.S.

They compiled findings for a piece published recently by Southern Ag Today. The following is a portion of their report (“U.S. Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Supply“): In recent years, fresh fruit and vegetable production in the United States has been on the decline, U.S. production has decreased by 10% and 23.1% respectively since 2000. With declining domestic production, imports of fresh fruits and vegetables have grown substantially with some products only being available in the United States due to imports. Since 2020, a larger share of the total supply of fresh fruit in the United States was imported than grown domestically and has increased from 36.6% in 2000 to 54.8% in 2022. Vegetable imports in 2022 were 29.3% of the total supply up from 9.5% in 2000. The value of imported fresh fruits and vegetables for 2022 was $18.23 billion. After including exports, the total volume of fresh fruits and vegetables available in the United States was 94.65 billion pounds, or 283.63 pounds per capita.

For more, continue reading at southernagtoday.org.