USDA Announces Growing Trade Deficit as Imports of Fruits & Vegetables Continue to Rise

Sep 13, 2024

By Emma Sauls

USDA announced last week that agricultural imports are expected to reach a record $212 billion in FY2025. Fueled in part by growing imports of fruits and vegetables, USDA now forecasts an agricultural trade deficit of over $30 billion for the year. The widening trade gap demonstrates a growing reliance on other countries for our fresh produce.

In August, Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff and Representative Sanford Bishop introduced the Protecting our Produce Act, a bicameral bill would establish a five-year pilot program to provide support for certain specialty crop producers — blueberries, squash, bell pepper, cucumber, or asparagus — when a crop’s national average market price (effective price) falls below its five-year average price (reference price), if the difference is caused by imports.

“GFVGA will be in Washington the next two weeks to meet with policy makers and to communicate the need for trade policy that can help level the playing field for Georgia Growers. The growing trade deficit demonstrates the need for a program that supports domestic producers before it’s too late and we become reliant on other countries for our fresh fruits and vegetables” said Chris Butts, GFVGA Executive V.P.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.