If you’ve ever wondered about the enduring popularity of some of America’s quintessential crops like squash or pumpkins, the USDA has surprisingly detailed data, with some records dating back to 1868. With Thanksgiving leftovers still sitting in refrigerators across the country, now seems a good time to dive into the data.
Whether they are fried or mashed, potatoes remain a staple in the American diet, accounting for 15 percent of vegetable farm sales. Even though sweet potatoes are currently experiencing an uptick in popularity thanks largely to their well-publicized nutritional benefits, potato remains king among American growers and consumers. More than 44 billion pounds of potatoes were harvested in 2015, compared to just a under 3 billion pounds of sweet potatoes.
One of the reasons potatoes continue to be such a dominant part of the American diet is that Americans are constantly inventing new ways to eat them. In 1970, processed potato products surpassed raw potatoes in sales, and consumption of fresh potatoes fell from a high of 81 pounds per person in 1960 to an average of 42 pounds by the 2000s. But potato production has continued to increase as people find different ways to get their potato fix. On average, Americans now consume 55 pounds of frozen potatoes per year, plus 17 pounds of potato chips.
Potatoes’ distant vegetable relatives, squash and pumpkin (or eggplant, a type of squash), are not nearly as popular with Americans, but pumpkin production has steadily increased in recent years from a little less than 1 billion pounds in 2000 to just over 1.3 billion pounds in 2014. Squash production, on the other hand, has slowly declined from almost 900 million pounds in 2000 to less than 575 million in 2014.
Yams—those oft-misunderstood tubers—aren’t even important enough to be measured by the USDA as an agricultural commodity. But this video will tell you a little bit more about its confusing history.
Source: Vox