1. Increasing Fruit and Vegetable Production:
What Would it Take to Grow Enough to Meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans?
Danica Cowan, MS
University of New Hampshire Dietetic Intern
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
METHODS & OBJECTIVES
RESULTS
CONCLUSIONS & NEXT STEPS
•The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of
vegetables per day has not changed with the new 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for
Americans.12 This recommendation has not changed in over 10 years.
•Eating more fruits and vegetables results in fewer deaths from chronic disease and
fewer environmental impacts, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions.7
•If Americans added just one extra serving of fruits or vegetables a day it would
prevent 30,000 deaths and save $5 billion in healthcare expenditures.5
DISCUSSION
Americans are not meeting their recommended fruit and vegetable intake.1 There
are many obstacles to increasing both fruit and vegetable production and
consumption. Farmers have stronger incentives to grow commodity crops like
grains and oilseeds rather than fruits and vegetables.
One problem of eliminating planting restrictions and increasing production is that
fruit and vegetable producers often want these restrictions as they keep fruit and
vegetable prices high. This policy is good for producers but bad for consumers.5
The increase in farmer’s markets and school gardens is evidence of increasing
demand for fruits and vegetables, particularly locally grown. Between 1994 and
2014 the number of farmer’s markets increased by over 6,500.15
Increasing demand for fruits and vegetables may help decrease prices and
increase production.16 In fact, the American Heart Association recently asserted
that reducing fruit and vegetable prices could help save lives.17
Eating more fruits and vegetables can help reduce the risk of many diseases.
However, we do not currently produce enough fruits and vegetables for everyone to
meet the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA)12 for fruit and vegetable intake.
Only 2% of our cropland is used to grow fruits and vegetables.1 The majority is used
to grow commodity crop monocultures of cereal grains and oil seeds. Shifting our
agricultural policies to support higher fruit and vegetable production would promote
both human and environmental health, as fruits and vegetables would promote crop
diversity, and just one additional serving per day would save over 30,000 lives per
year.5
REFERENCES
While increasing fruit and vegetable production won’t necessarily increase
consumption and bring about the health benefits that go along with them, it may
help decrease prices. A decrease in fruit and vegetable prices could increase
access to price sensitive populations most likely to benefit from increased
consumption.16, 11
There are several steps that can be taken to increase fruit and vegetable
production:5,6
• Completely remove growing restrictions for fruit and vegetables for commodity
recipient farmers.
 Develop crop insurance policies for diversified farms that grow fruits and
vegetables.
 Invest in sustainable agriculture research.
 Promote consumer access to fruits and vegetables.
Limitations: More recent aggregate fruit and vegetable acreage data needed.
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
fruits vegetables
Cups
2013 Average Daily Fruit & Vegetable Intake
Compared to Dietary Guidelines1
Shortfall
Consumed
1. O'Hara JK. The $11-trillion reward: How simple dietary changes can save lives and money, and how we get there.
Available at: http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/food_and_agriculture/11-trillion-
reward.pdf
2 Counting on Agroecology: Why We Should Invest More in the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture (2015). Union of
Concerned Scientists 2015. Available at: http://www.ucsusa.org/food-agriculture/advance-sustainable-
agriculture/counting-on-agroecology#.vszdt5oaoko. Accessed February 2, 2016.
3. Horrigan, Leo, Robert S. Lawrence, and Polly Walker. "How sustainable agriculture can address the environmental
and human health harms of industrial agriculture." Environmental health perspectives 110.5 (2002): 445.
4. Premanandh J. Factors affecting food security and contribution of modern technologies in food
sustainability. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture J. Sci. Food Agric. 2011;91(15):2707–2714.
5 The Healthy Farmland Diet: How Growing Less Corn Would Improve Our Health and Help America's Heartland
(2013). Union of Concerned Scientists. Available at: http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/expand-
healthy-food-access/the-healthy-farmland-diet.html#.vszffpoaoko. Accessed February 1, 2016
6 Balagtas JV, Krissoff B, Lei L, Rickard BJ. How Has U.S. Farm Policy Influenced Fruit and Vegetable Production? Applied
Economic Perspectives and Policy2013;36(2):265–286.
7 Scarborough, P., Allender, S., Clarke, D., Wickramasinghe, K. and Rayner, M., 2012. Modeling the health impact of
environmentally sustainable dietary scenarios in the UK. European journal of clinical nutrition, 66(6), pp.710-715
8 Foley JA, Ramankutty N, Brauman KA, et al. Solutions for a cultivated planet.Nature 2011;478(7369):337–342.
9 Ribera, L.A., Yue, C. and Holcomb, R., 2012. Geographic impacts on US Agriculture of the 2010 dietary nutrition
guidelines. Choices Magazine, 27(1).
10 Johnson, D.D., Krissoff, B., Young, C.E., Hoffman, L.A., Lucier, G. and Breneman, V.E., 2006. Eliminating Fruit and
Vegetable Planting Restrictions: How Would Markets Be Affected? (No. 7249). United States Department of Agriculture,
Economic Research Service.
11 Naqvi, J., Salter, S., Sheehy, T.J. and Smyth, S., 2012. Policy Opportunities to Better Incentivize Fruit and Vegetable
Production.
12 US Department of Health and Human Services, 2015. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015
13 The 2014 Farm Bill (PL 113-79)
14 Buzby, J.C., Wells, H.F. and Vocke, G., 2006. Possible implications for US agriculture from adoption of select dietary
guidelines. US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
15 USDA ERS - Chart: Number of U.S. farmers' markets continues to rise. USDA ERS - Chart: Number of U.S. farmers'
markets continues to rise. Available at: http://ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/detail.aspx?chartid=48561.
Accessed February 4, 2016.
16 Beydoun MA, Powell LM, Wang Y. The association of fast food, fruit and vegetable prices with dietary intakes among
US adults: Is there modification by family income? Social Science & Medicine 2008;66(11):2218–2229.
17 Slice The Price Of Fruits And Veggies, Save 200,000 Lives? NPR. Available at:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/02/468921290/slice-the-price-of-fruits-and-veggies-save-200-000-lives.
Accessed March 18, 2016.
•A literature review was performed using databases including USDA databases,
Google Scholar, and the UNH online library. Topics including sustainable agriculture,
agroecology, US fruit and vegetable consumption and production, and US chronic
disease rates were reviewed.
•The purpose of this review was to identify the environmental and public health
impacts of meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended fruit and
vegetable intake, including the amount of land needed to grow the fruits and
vegetables needed to meet the guidelines.
•Removing planting restrictions on commodity crop growers could increase fruit
and vegetable production and decrease prices.6
•While planting restrictions were significantly eased by the 2014 Farm Bill, further
incentives for growing fruits and vegetables, such as crop insurance policies,
would likely help increase production.11
2012 US Crop Acreage1
cereal grains
oil seeds
other crops
wheat
vegetables, fruit,
nuts
Fruits, vegetable, and nut crops makes up only 2% of US crop acreage. (USDA,
USC)1,9
•Historically, farmers who planted commodity crops were severely restricted or
unable to plant fruits and vegetables. These restrictions were eased but not
eliminated in the 2014 Farm Bill. Commodity crop growers can now grow specialty
crops, which include fruits and vegetables on up to 15% of acreage13
The United States currently does not grow enough fruits and vegetables to meet
the recommended intake for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.1,5,9
The US needs an additional 3 million acres of fruit and 7.7 million acres of vegetables in
order to meet the DGAs.14
•If Americans met dietary
guidelines for fruit and
vegetable intake, it would
prevent 127,000 deaths a year
and save $17 billion in medical
costs. This translates to $11
trillion in economic value.5 This
$11 trillion combines medical
costs, premature death, and
lost productivity.