Vegetable gardening sits within a much larger food system. In 2024, U.S. vegetable and pulse availability fell to 376 pounds per person, the lowest level in more than 35 years. The same year, vegetable and pulse crops covered 6.791 million harvested acres and had a combined crop value of $24.915 billion. These figures come from the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) April 2025 Vegetables and Pulses Outlook.
Contents
- At-a-glance U.S. vegetable statistics
- Per-person availability and crop mix
- Acreage, production, and crop value
- Imports, exports, and market movement
- The leading fresh-market vegetables
- Lettuce statistics
- Onion statistics
At-a-glance U.S. vegetable statistics
The 2024 ERS figures describe vegetables, potatoes, pulses, and mushrooms across availability, farming, production, and trade. They are useful for understanding the market surrounding home gardens and fresh produce, but they measure national totals rather than the output of individual gardens.
| Measure | 2024 figure | Change or context |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable and pulse availability | 376 lb per person | Lowest in over 35 years |
| Total harvested area | 6.791 million acres | Vegetables, potatoes, pulses, and mushrooms |
| Fresh-market vegetable production | 291 million cwt | Fresh sales channel |
| Processing vegetable production | 331 million cwt | Processing sales channel |
| Potato production | 420 million cwt | Includes the potato crop |
| Vegetable and pulse crop value | $24.915 billion | Total crop value |
| Vegetable imports | $21.747 billion | Import value |
| Vegetable exports | $7.860 billion | Export value |
The 2024 availability total was 50 pounds per person below the 1996 peak of 426 pounds per person. Fresh vegetables represented 39% of total vegetable-and-pulse availability. Potatoes represented 31%, processing vegetables 26%, pulses 3%, and mushrooms 1%.
Per-person availability and crop mix
Fresh vegetable availability was 148 pounds per person in 2024, down 5 pounds from 2023. ERS also reported a 3.3% decline in U.S. fresh vegetable availability compared with 2023. Processing vegetable availability was 95.6 pounds per person, down 8.4% from the prior year.
Potatoes remained a major part of the national total. Potato availability reached 117.2 pounds per person in 2024, up 0.3% from 2023. Availability of dry beans, dry peas, lentils, and chickpeas was 11.2 pounds per person. Mushroom availability was 3.3 pounds per person.
This mix matters when interpreting vegetable gardening statistics. The national availability number includes crops commonly grown in home plots, such as tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and peppers, but it also includes potatoes, processing crops, pulses, and mushrooms. A gardener comparing household harvests with national data should therefore treat the 376-pound figure as a broad food-supply measure rather than a backyard-growing benchmark.
Fresh-market vegetables had the largest per-person presence among the main vegetable categories. Within that group, onions led at 21 pounds per person, tomatoes ranked second at 19 pounds, romaine and leaf lettuce reached 16 pounds, iceberg and head lettuce reached 12.4 pounds, and bell peppers reached almost 11 pounds.
Total lettuce availability was 28.6 pounds per person in 2024. The total combines romaine or leaf lettuce with iceberg or head lettuce, so it is higher than either individual lettuce category.
Acreage, production, and crop value
The total area harvested for vegetables, potatoes, dry pulses, and mushrooms reached 6.791 million acres in 2024. Fresh and processing vegetable area accounted for 2.024 million acres. Potato area was 925,000 acres, while dry bean, dry pea, lentil, and chickpea area rose to 3.839 million acres.
Production volumes varied substantially by crop group. Fresh-market vegetable production was 291 million hundredweight (cwt), and processing vegetable production was 331 million cwt. Potato production was 420 million cwt. Dry bean, dry pea, lentil, and chickpea production was 63 million cwt.
The crop-value figures show how production volume and market value can differ among categories:
| Crop group | 2024 crop value |
|---|---|
| Fresh vegetables | $14.438 billion |
| Processing vegetables | $2.407 billion |
| Potatoes | $5.079 billion |
| Dry beans, dry peas, lentils, and chickpeas | $1.903 billion |
| Mushrooms | $1.088 billion |
Together, those categories made up the reported $24.915 billion U.S. vegetable and pulse crop value in 2024. Fresh vegetables had the largest individual value at $14.438 billion. Potatoes ranked next at $5.079 billion, followed by processing vegetables, dry pulses, and mushrooms.
For gardeners, these values provide market context for familiar crops without implying that a home harvest has the same economic characteristics as commercial production. Commercial crop value reflects large-scale production and market sales, while household gardening may be measured by food consumed at home rather than by a sale price.
Imports, exports, and market movement
U.S. vegetable imports totaled $21.747 billion in 2024. Fresh vegetable imports accounted for $12.499 billion, processing vegetable imports for $4.893 billion, and potato imports, including seed, for $3.315 billion. Imports of dry beans, dry peas, lentils, and chickpeas totaled $387 million, while mushroom imports totaled $654 million.
U.S. vegetable exports totaled $7.860 billion. Fresh vegetable exports were $2.574 billion, processing vegetable exports were $1.811 billion, and potato exports, including seed, were $2.318 billion. Dry bean, dry pea, lentil, and chickpea exports totaled $1.131 billion. Mushroom exports were $26 million.
Compared with 2023, U.S. vegetable and pulse import value rose 8.7% in 2024. Export value rose 7.4%. Those changes describe trade value, not necessarily physical volume, and should not be read as a direct measure of how much produce individual households purchased or grew.
Trade patterns were especially visible in lettuce. Fresh lettuce exports rose from 705 million pounds in 2023 to 732 million pounds in 2024. Fresh lettuce imports totaled 727 million pounds in 2024, down 14% from 2023. Mexico supplied 92% of fresh lettuce import volume in 2024, with Canada supplying the rest of the leading share.
The leading fresh-market vegetables
Onions and tomatoes were the two largest fresh-market vegetables by per-capita availability in 2024. Onions reached 21 pounds per person, while tomatoes reached 19 pounds. Romaine and leaf lettuce followed at 16 pounds per person. Iceberg and head lettuce reached 12.4 pounds, which the ERS described as a record low. Bell peppers were at almost 11 pounds per person.
The leading figures describe availability, not necessarily consumption. Availability is a supply measure and can differ from what people eat because of losses, waste, storage, and other factors between production and final use. Even so, it offers a consistent way to compare major fresh-market vegetable categories for the same year.
Fresh-market lettuce production fell 6% in 2024. Its production value fell from $4.8 billion in 2023 to $4.6 billion in 2024. The combination of lower production and lower value contrasts with the rise in fresh lettuce exports, which increased to 732 million pounds.
These comparisons can help explain why a crop’s national supply story is not always a simple upward or downward trend. Production, availability, trade, and value can move in different directions during the same measurement period.
Lettuce statistics
Lettuce accounted for 28.6 pounds per person in total availability in 2024 when romaine or leaf lettuce and iceberg or head lettuce are considered together. The component figures were 16 pounds per person for romaine and leaf lettuce and 12.4 pounds per person for iceberg and head lettuce.
Iceberg and head lettuce availability reached a record low of 12.4 pounds per person. Fresh-market lettuce production fell 6%, and production value declined from $4.8 billion in 2023 to $4.6 billion in 2024.
The trade figures add another layer. Fresh lettuce exports increased from 705 million pounds in 2023 to 732 million pounds in 2024. Fresh lettuce imports were 727 million pounds, 14% lower than in 2023. Mexico supplied 92% of fresh lettuce import volume, while Canada supplied the rest of the leading share reported by ERS.
For a home gardener, these statistics place common lettuce choices in a national context: leaf and romaine types had higher per-person availability than iceberg and head lettuce, while the overall lettuce market experienced lower production and value in 2024.
Onion statistics
Onions were the largest fresh-market vegetable by per-capita availability in 2024. Fresh bulb onion availability reached 21.3 pounds per person, while the broader fresh-market onion figure was reported at 21 pounds per person.
Fresh onion production excluding California reached 6.5 billion pounds in 2024. Onion import volume rose 1.3%, and onion export volume rose 20.3% during the year. Conventionally grown dry yellow onion free-on-board shipping-point prices averaged 16 cents per pound in early 2025.
The production figure and the availability figure use different units and describe different parts of the supply chain. Production is reported in pounds for a defined production area, while availability is reported per person for the national supply. The early-2025 price is also a later measurement than the 2024 production and availability figures, so it should be treated as a separate market snapshot.