Background
Production
Fruits, tree nuts, vegetables and pulses are grown on
less than 4% of all US agricultural land, with the rest devoted to corn, soy,
wheat, and other grains and oilseeds. However, these “specialty crops” make up
about 50% of all crop revenue. Production in this part of the agricultural
sector is highly concentrated: The USDA notes that while “Small, family, or
individually run farm operations continue to dominate U.S. fruit and tree nut
production…Most of the production and revenue…come from the few largest farms.”
Similarly, for vegetables, “U.S. vegetable farms are largely individually owned
and relatively small… However, relatively few farms account for most commercial
sales of vegetables. About 9 percent of operations…accounted for 90 percent of
the value of vegetables sold by growers.” Overall, specialized fruit and
vegetable farms tend to be better off financially and less dependent on
government support than other types of farms.
The largest fruit producing states are California,
Florida, and Washington, with California accounting for over half the value of
all fresh fruit. Oranges, grapes, apples, bananas, and pineapples are the top
fruits consumed in the US; only the first three are produced domestically.
California also leads in fresh vegetable production, followed by Florida. There
is significant production in the Upper Midwest, the West Coast, and Arizona,
New York, and Georgia as well. Over half this land is irrigated; the figure is
as high 99% in parts of California.
Unique Challenges
The fruit and vegetable industry faces unique
challenges due to the seasonality and limited growing range of many crops,
variable and intensive labor requirements, perishability, expense of shipping,
difficulty of storage, high price variability, consumer demands for health and
convenience, and consolidation in the retailing sector that has forced down
prices.
Increased Consumption and Cost
Americans are eating more fruit and vegetable than
twenty years ago, spending about $224 per person on home consumption. This is partly
due to rising incomes. The USDA notes that health initiatives by government
groups, including the Centers for Disease Control and the Fresh Fruit and
Vegetable Program, have also played a role in increasing fruit and vegetable
consumption. Still, few Americans meet the recommended 5-10 servings per day.
As a result of increased consumer demand and higher shipping costs, fresh fruit
and vegetable prices have risen over the past decade, at a higher rate than
other foods.
Federal Support
“A variety of general, non-crop-specific programs” provide
support for fruits and vegetables, including federal purchase programs for
school lunch, disaster assistance in cases of extensive crop loss, export
supports, federal marketing orders, and some nationally funded research and
promotion (this research funding is a tiny fraction of the total supplied by
Title VII of the Farm Bill, most is for commodity crops like corn and soy). Below,
I describe five of these types of programs.
Market
Access Program
The Market Access Program provides matching
grants to marketing boards and cooperatives to fund promotion of their products
in overseas markets. The Wine Institute, the Florida Department of Citrus, the
National Potato Promotion Board, and the California Walnut and Table Grape Commissions
were some of the biggest recipients of these grants in 2005. The USDA also
creates National Marketing Boards by appointing board members at the request of
various industries. These boards are then funded by the industries, with the
goal of promoting research on and expanding the market for particular crops or
products. There are seven fruit and vegetable marketing boards, including
blueberries, Hass avocados, mangos, mushrooms, potatoes, processed raspberries,
and watermelon. The federal government pays the cost of administering and
implementing the program, ranging from $1-5 million for mangos, mushrooms,
raspberries, and watermelon to $47 million for avocados, and is reimbursed by
the industry.
Federal Purchase and Nutritional Assistance Programs
Fruit and vegetable purchases for school breakfast and
lunch, emergency relief, donations to homeless shelters, and food stamps, help
support the fruit and vegetable industry. In 2004, the Agricultural Marketing
Service purchased $447 million worth of fruits and vegetables for these uses. The
Secretary of Defense is also allocated $50 million for fruit and vegetable
purchases. However, participants in the Women, Infants, and Children Program,
unlike SNAP* participants, can only use vouchers for juice, dry beans, and dry
peas.
*The
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, often called food stamps,
accounts for two-thirds of Farm Bill funding and provides food purchasing assistance
to elderly and low-income Americans.
Marketing
Orders
Marketing orders, established by the producers
themselves and overseen by the Agricultural Marketing Service (a part of the
USDA), help regulate markets for fruits and vegetables (as well as other
eligible commodities). They use a variety of mechanisms, including enforcing
quality standards, regulating flow of product to market, standardizing
packaging, and authorizing research and advertising. They essentially help
balance supply such that consumers receive quality products and producers
receive high enough prices. Once passed, these orders apply to all handlers –
everyone involved in receiving the product from producers, transporting,
packaging, grading, or placing the product in commercial channels – in a
geographic area.
Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act
In 2004, Congress passed this act with the goal of
increasing specialty crop production, defined as fruits, vegetables, tree nuts,
dried fruits, and nursery crops. It authorizes $54 million annually to promote
increased consumption and more competitive production of specialty crops, as
well as increased research, analysis of trade issues, and training of
fruit and vegetable inspectors. The Act was amended under the 2008 Farm Bill,
directing the Secretary of Agriculture to direct grant funds to state
agriculture departments for use in promoting these crops.
Crop Insurance
While
most fruits and vegetables are not eligible to receive the same kind of
insurance and corn, soy, and other commodity crops, there are now federally
subsidized insurance programs for over 40 different fruit, nut, and vegetable
crops, and 49% of the harvested area on specialized farms is insured. This
helps reduce the risk of producing fruits and vegetables, which are often
vulnerable to weather, transpiration, labor, and other problems.
In the next post, I’ll talk more about
some issues related to fruit and vegetable policy in the US, including how
current Farm Bill regulations actually discourage fruit and vegetable
production, as well as some recent positive developments.
Thanks for bearing with me
through this policy-heavy post! Here is one of my favorite fruit recipes (botanically speaking, avocados and tomatoes are fruit!).
Open-Face Avocado Sandwiches with Tomato and Basil
• 1 avocado• 1 handful cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• coarse sea salt + pepper
• balsamic vinegar or reduction (optional)
• 4 small slices or 2 large slices whole wheat bread, toasted
Directions
1. Roughly mash the avocado and spread a
quarter on each slice of bread.
2. Distribute the
tomato halves over the slices and season with salt, pepper, and balsamic
vinegar.
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