ERS Vegetable Yearbook

A link to the USDA Economic Research Service's Vegetable and Melon Outlook annual report is found here and here. While Mexico remains the dominant international supplier of fresh vegetables to the U.S. market, Canada's share of U.S. vegetable imports has grown from 9% to 19% in the last decade.

From the report, coordinated by Gary Lucier:

• Aggregate U.S. output of vegetables, melons, potatoes, and pulse crops rose less than 1 percent in 2006 to 130 billion pounds—largely unchanged from a decade earlier. Reduced production of lettuce, carrot, onion, and pulse crops (dry beans, dry peas, lentils) nearly offset stronger potato, sweet potato, and processing tomato crops.
• Harvested area increased 1 percent to 7.22 million acres due largely to a 15-percent surge in acreage devoted to dry edible peas. Potato and melon area also increased, outweighing declines in fresh and processing vegetable area.
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, producer prices for vegetables averaged above a year earlier across most major product categories in 2006. Fresh-market vegetables (up 5 percent), canned vegetables (up 2 percent), frozen vegetables (up 2 percent), dehydrated vegetables (up 11 percent), fresh russet potatoes (up 32 percent) were higher, while prices for melons (down 5 percent) and pulse crops (down 20 percent) were lower.
• In 2006, retail prices for fresh and processed fruits and vegetables averaged 5 percent above the previous year, with the greatest increases in prices occurring during the winter (up 7 percent) and summer (up 5 percent) quarters. Retail prices for fresh vegetables were responsible for much of the increase, led by potatoes (up 10 percent) and tomatoes (up 8 percent). Changes in consumer prices for processed vegetables were more subdued in 2006, with canned vegetables averaging 3 percent more than the previous year and frozen
vegetable prices up just 1 percent.
• Imports of all vegetables, melons, pulse crops, and seed rose 10 percent to $7.4 billion, led by increases for fresh vegetables, melons, and dehydrated vegetables. Mexico remained the top foreign source with 44 percent of import value, followed by Canada (24 percent), China (5 percent), and Peru (4 percent). Imports accounted for 16 percent of all vegetable, melon, and pulse crop disappearance in 2006, up from 10 percent a decade earlier.
• Exports of all vegetables, melons, pulse crops, and seed rose 9 percent to $4.4 billion, led by increases for dry beans, potatoes, and fresh vegetables. Canada remained the top foreign market with 46 percent of export value, followed by Mexico (13 percent), Japan (12 percent), and Taiwan (2 percent). About 9 percent of total U.S. vegetable and melon supplies were exported in 2006—little changed from a decade earlier.
• In 2006, per capita disappearance of all vegetable, melon, and pulse crops fell 3 percent to 428 pounds (farm-weight basis). Potatoes remained the most popular vegetable crop in the United States (29 percent of total use), followed by tomatoes (20 percent), all lettuce (7 percent), sweet corn (6 percent), and onions (5 percent).

Fresh-market Vegetables
• Production of 24 major fresh-market vegetables and melons (excluding potatoes, mushrooms, and pulse crops) declined 1 percent to 46.7 billion pounds in 2006. Much of the loss in output was due to a smaller head lettuce crop (down 7 million hundredweight (cwt)), caused by weather-reduced yields in California and smaller planted area in response to lackluster 2005 prices. Production was also trimmed for a dozen other crops including tomatoes, spinach, onions,
celery, asparagus, and artichokes. Increased output was seen in crops such as bell peppers, squash, leaf lettuce, and watermelon.
• Fresh-market production was down 2 percent in California, which accounts for 48 percent of annual fresh-market vegetable and melon output. Driven largely by lettuce and melon production, Arizona is the second-largest source of fresh market vegetables and melons, with 9 percent of output. Florida, the third largest- producing State, with 8 percent of annual output, saw 2006 output drop 8 percent as hurricane damage once again limited crop output.
• The farm value of production for the 24 top fresh vegetable and melon crops rose 3 percent to $10.2 billion in 2006 as higher prices more than made up for lower production. More than half of all 2006 fresh-market vegetable and melon crops generated increased gross farm revenue, while the others had declining receipts. The top crop in terms of production value was fresh tomatoes at $1.6 billion (about the same as a year earlier), followed by head lettuce at $977 million (down 4 percent), dry bulb onions at a record-high $962 million (up 13 percent), sweet corn at $619 million (up 4 percent), and broccoli at $617 million (up 9 percent).
• The farm value share of the retail cost of fresh vegetables increased 4 percent in 2006 to an estimated 18.9 percent. The farm value share increased for fresh potatoes, lettuce, and broccoli but declined for tomatoes. Despite recent weakness relative to the retail value, the shipping-point price of iceberg lettuce has averaged about 24 percent of the retail price this decade—slightly less than the 1990s but up slightly from the 1980s.
• Imports of fresh vegetables (excluding potatoes and melons) increased 11 percent to $3.8 billion in 2006. Mexico accounted for 67 percent of import value, down from 73 percent a decade earlier. With strong U.S. demand for high-value greenhouse vegetables (largely tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers), Canada continues to garner a larger share of the U.S. fresh-vegetable import market and now accounts for 19 percent of this market, compared with 9 percent a decade earlier. Peru (4 percent) and China (2 percent) have also increased their share of the U.S. fresh-vegetable import market over the past decade.
• The value of fresh vegetable exports (excluding potatoes and melons) increased 8 percent to $1.6 billion in 2006. Export concentration has increased over the past decade, with Canada now accounting for 78 percent of U.S. fresh-vegetable export value—up from 69 percent a decade earlier. Japan accounted for 6 percent of the value of U.S. fresh vegetable exports in 2006, down from 14 percent 10 years earlier as nearby suppliers, such as China, ship more to Japan.
• On a per person basis, domestic disappearance for consumption of fresh-market vegetables (excluding melons, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pulses, and mushrooms) fell 1 percent to almost 146 pounds in 2006. Fresh use increased for crops like asparagus, snap beans, cabbage, cauliflower, bell peppers, garlic, and romaine and leaf lettuce and dropped for head lettuce, spinach, celery, onions, pumpkins, and tomatoes. In 2007, fresh-vegetable use is expected to rise slightly from that of a year earlier.