VegetablesMost US vegetables cost under a dollar a serving, but Americans eat half what they should
USDA's Economic Research Service priced 93 fresh and processed vegetable products in 2023 and found 69 of them cost less than $1 per serving.
Source
ers_usda
Reporting from this source, summarised, rewritten or translated and published under its name · 21 stories
Vegetables
FruitsOne in four US fresh apples is sold abroad, and exports hit a record $1.16bn
US fresh apple exports reached 1.87 billion pounds in the 2025/26 marketing year, about 26% of fresh production, and a record $1.16 billion in value, with Mexico and Canada the largest buyers.
AgribusinessUS farm household income rose 60% and net worth 64% from 2019 to 2023
Average US farm household income was 60% higher in 2023 than in 2019 and farm net worth 64% higher, driven mainly by income from farming rather than off-farm wages, an ERS chart shows.
AgribusinessUSDA projects food insecurity easing in most low- and middle-income countries in 2026
ERS's Global Food Assessment estimates 884.4 million people, 19.5% of the population of 83 low- and middle-income countries, are food insecure in 2026, with most countries improving on 2025 but Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America facing persistent risks.
AgribusinessFarming and natural resources take 40% of US Extension staff time
Averaged over 2007-18, about 40 percent of full-time-equivalent jobs in the US Cooperative Extension System went to agriculture and natural resources, the largest of its four program areas, an ERS chart shows.
FruitsTwenty-eight of 62 fruits cost Americans under $1 a serving in 2023
Fresh watermelon at 26 cents and bananas at 31 cents were the cheapest servings of fruit in US shops in 2023, while fresh blackberries, fresh raspberries and canned cherries were the most expensive.
EnvironmentUS food system takes 29.3% of national freshwater, far more than its energy share
In 2023 the US food system relied on 27.7 trillion gallons of freshwater, 29.3 percent of all withdrawals, against 15.5 percent of the workforce and 10.8 percent of the country's energy.
AgribusinessUS farm exports of $177 billion generated $369 billion of economic activity in 2024
Every dollar of US agricultural exports supported $2.08 of total economic activity in 2024, the USDA Economic Research Service estimates, with processed goods adding the most.
CropsUS farmers' use of genetically engineered crops kept rising in 2025, ERS says
More than 90 percent of US corn, cotton and soybean acres are now planted with at least one genetically engineered trait, according to the USDA Economic Research Service.
FruitsGeorgia overtakes Florida as top US watermelon grower in 2025
The United States grew 3.87 billion pounds of watermelons in 2025, and Georgia moved ahead of Florida on more acres and above-average yields, a USDA Economic Research Service chart shows.
EnvironmentTile drainage spreads across northern US cropland, census shows
Counties in the northern Midwest and Northeast raised their share of tile-drained cropland by 8 percentage points or more between 2012 and 2022, USDA economists report.
AgribusinessLabour takes 40 cents of every dollar on US specialty crop farms
Fruit, vegetable and nursery growers spend nearly three times the American average on labour, while corn farms spend 4 percent of their cash expenses on it.
AgribusinessNew American farmers start on smaller land and lower income
Fifty-eight percent of farms run entirely by beginning operators worked 49 acres or fewer in 2022, against 38 percent of established farms.