ABSTRACT
This chapter explores why fruits, vegetables, and horticultural specialties (FVH) agriculture seems to defy the economic trends affecting other parts of the US economy. The value of FVH is one-sixth of the value of all farm products produced in the United States. US exports of FVH commodities are rising, and exceed the value of US wheat exports. Imports of FVH commodities have been rising - often by dramatic amounts, such as the ten-fold increase in fresh broccoli imports during the 1980s - but from such small bases or starting points that, even after the surge, fresh broccoli imports accounted for only 2 percent of US consumption in 1991. The US citizen white and black migrant workers of a generation ago have largely disappeared, and many of these workers and their children made the transition to nonfarm jobs with the help of farm worker assistance programs.
