The U.S. Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Industry: An Overview of Production and Trade

Abstract

The fruit and vegetable industry is an important segment of the U.S. agriculture. The 2017 U.S. Agriculture Census shows that the industry had total sales of USD 48 billion from over 10 million acres of land. However, over the last two decades, production of major fruit and vegetable crops in the United States has been declining while imports have grown significantly. The rapidly growing imports have posed challenges to the sustainability of the U.S. domestic industry. This study provides a systematic industry review of fresh fruit and vegetable production and trade between the United States and Mexico, by far the largest source of U.S. imports, highlighting the structural shift in the market over the last two decades and the caveats for industry sustainability. The analysis shows that Florida, Georgia, and California are among the states that face the strongest competition from Mexico. Among the 10 crops reviewed, berry, tomato, pepper, and cucumber production has been affected the most. The study further discusses the factors driving the rapid growth of imports and shows the importance of innovation and policy reform to the sustainability of the U.S. fruit and vegetable industry.

How to make vertical farming more attractive: Effects of vegetable growing conditions on consumer assessment

“…A total of 586 participants recruited from AMAZON Mechanical Turk completed these three studies: 219 in Study 1a ( M age = 34.23, 50.7% male), 189 in Study 1b ( M age = 32.88, 63% male), and 178 in Study 1c ( M age = 35.97, 54.5% male). Americans were selected as participants because the United States is the world's third‐largest agricultural producer (STATISTA, 2022a) and a market in which various crops are distributed (Huang et al, 2022). A simple random sampling method was used for data collection.…”

“…We selected US consumers because the United States is the world's leading agricultural producer. In addition, the per capita consumption of vegetables and fruits is high, and the types of crops distributed in the market are diverse (Huang et al, 2022; STATISTA, 2022b; 2022c). For these reasons, our findings on US consumers are considered sufficiently generalizable; however, they still have problems.…”

“…machine-made cooking). and a market in which various crops are distributed (Huang et al, 2022). A simple random sampling method was used for data collection.…”

Protected Agriculture in Mexico

“…For instance, Florida, the major strawberry and fresh tomato supplier in the US market in wintertime, has a harvesting window from November to April for strawberries and from October to June for tomatoes. The harvesting windows of both crops overlap with those in Mexico, causing direct competition in the market (Huang et al 2022).…”

“…Mexico is the largest source of US fresh fruit and vegetable imports (Huang et al 2022). In 2019, over 50% of US agricultural imports from Mexico were fruit and vegetables (USDA FAS 2021).…”