By Frank Giles
Every so often, we’ll see another data point that confirms an argument we’ve been making for years in the Southeastern specialty crop industry: Imports of fresh fruits and vegetables are putting our growers at a disadvantage.
In this instance, the data comes from the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) recently published report, “Competing Across the Calendar: The Growing Squeeze on U.S. Produce,” by AFBF economist Danny Munch.
The analysis looked at several fresh fruit and vegetable crops and how imports are impacting the U.S. market. The key overall trend is that imports are up by 70% in the past 15 years. Domestic fruit production has declined by 32%, and vegetable production has fallen by 10% in that same period.
There are a lot of reasons for this, including that U.S. specialty crop growers are facing sharply rising expenses associated with labor, inputs, equipment, farming necessities and regulation. All of these costs are making tight margins even tighter and making it harder for growers to invest in their operations. This was the topic of last month’s cover story.
The AFBF report did acknowledge that foreign imports can be beneficial when they serve the purpose of extending normal harvest seasons for domestically grown crops. But when they overlap with the growing season of U.S. farms, that’s a problem. Unfortunately, it is a problem that impacts many Southeastern specialty crop growers.
Strawberries
A prime example of this problem can be seen with strawberries. The report noted: “Strawberries are produced primarily in California and Florida, but consumers expect them year-round. Imports, mostly from Mexico, help maintain winter availability when California volumes are lower. That same timing, however, overlaps directly with Florida’s November–March season and the beginning of California’s spring harvest, exposing domestic growers to lower-cost competition when they are trying to recover some of agriculture’s highest labor, packaging and compliance costs.
“U.S. strawberry production has remained relatively flat in recent years, while imports have continued to expand. Average annual imports have increased 85%, from about 134,000 metric tons in 2010–2014 to 249,000 metric tons in 2020–2025. The growth was concentrated in winter: November–March imports more than doubled, rising from roughly 84,000 to 180,000 metric tons. November volume nearly tripled, December imports rose about 175%, and January and February each more than doubled.”
Cabbage
Cabbage is another crop featured in the report, and it shows how U.S. growers’ inability to invest in and grow their farms can impact the import data. Because cabbage is grown in various regions across the country, it is nearly a year-round supply. Yet domestic production has been stagnant.
The report notes: “U.S. cabbage output was 11% lower in 2024 than in 2010. At the same time, USDA-based estimates show imports grew from about 4% of U.S. cabbage availability in 2000–2002 to 12% in 2017–2019.
“Unlike crops where imports have clearly pushed into a new season, cabbage’s basic seasonal pattern has remained similar. The more notable change is that the entire import baseline has moved higher. Imports now provide more supply during both southern winter production and northern summer and fall harvests, creating more persistent competition across the domestic production calendar rather than a single period of concentrated overlap.”
One thing this data clearly shows is that U.S. specialty crop growers, especially those in the Southeast, are feeling the squeeze from foreign imports. That raises serious questions about what can be done at the federal policy level to protect domestic markets, especially when harvest seasons directly overlap.
To date, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has done little to protect our growers. Let’s hope whatever comes out of new USMCA negotiations does more to secure homegrown fruits and vegetables.
Video to come