A recent report from the USDA Economic Research Service showed per capita availability of vegetables and pulses for 2024 stood at 376 pounds, the lowest level since the recent peak of 426 pounds in 1996. Per capita availability is used as a proxy for domestic consumption. The decline reflects long-term shifts in vegetable production and trade patterns, according to ERS.
“Per capita availability has held steady for fresh vegetables and potatoes, declined gradually for processing vegetables, continued a slow upward trend for pulses and remained stable for mushrooms,” according to the report by ERS agricultural economists Wilma Davis, Catharine Weber, Helen Wakefield and Seth Wechsler.
Focused on fresh vegetables
Because the per capita volume of fresh vegetables has stayed relatively flat over those 35 years while other categories have fallen or stagnated, fresh vegetables now make up the largest subcategory of vegetable availability in the U.S. While in 1996, fresh vegetables made up a third of total available vegetable options, in 2024 it represents almost 40% of total.
Despite this, the preliminary 2024 fresh vegetable volumes represent a 5-pound decline from the 2023 availabilities, and a 9-pound decline from the previous three-year average. This near-term decline was due mostly to the combination of a 4% production decline and 7% export increase, according to the report.
The production declines in particular were “driven by declines in planted acreage, and lower yields compared to the previous year,” the report says. Among the top five fresh vegetables, production declines in 2024 were as follows:
- All lettuce, down 6%
- Tomatoes, down 9%
- Pumpkins, down 11%
- Carrots, down 16%
Onions, the remaining top-five vegetable, saw a modest production increase of 2.1% in 2024.
“Beyond the leading five vegetables, production decreased for sweet corn, broccoli, bell peppers, spinach, garlic, radishes, cucumbers, snap beans, greens (kale and mustard), artichokes, asparagus and sweetpotatoes,” the report says.
There were several commodity-specific production trends noted. For example, while romaine/leaf lettuce production was down 9% in 2024 compared to 2023, the long-term trend has seen steady growth. Per capita availability of romaine averaged 6 pounds in the 1990s, climbed to 10 pounds in the 2000s, 13 pounds in the 2010s, and finally 17 pounds in the current decade with 16 pounds of romaine available in 2024. Long-term trends for iceberg/head lettuce have been the opposite, declining from an average of 24 pounds in the 1990s to 12 pounds in 2024.
Fresh tomato production was also down 9% in 2024 compared to 2023, however increases in greenhouse production of fresh tomatoes offset the 15% decline in field-grown fresh tomatoes. The report notes “greenhouse tomatoes represent a growing share of domestic supply.”
