USDA Survey Shows Millennials Prefer Fruits, Vegetables

A recent Department of Agriculture report shows that millennials prefer fruits and vegetables over grains and meats. The USDA report analyzed food-buying data by generation. Agri-Pulse reports that millennials spend the smallest share of their food budgets on grains, white meat and red meat. Millennials, those born between 1981 and the mid-2000s, are now the largest, most diverse living generation, …

Celebrating National Fruitcake Day

Cathy Isom gives us a bit of history about a day celebrated by fruitcake lovers young and old. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours. Celebrating National Fruitcake Day Christmas may by behind us, but one holiday tradition continues across the United States on this day which is known as National Fruitcake Day. Every year on December 27th so many …

Expanding U.S. Commodity Markets Top Priority for USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service

64.5 billion pounds of fruit and vegetables, and 44.4 billion eggs graded/inspected domestically The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the agency facilitated the export of more than $3.8 billion of American produced agricultural products in Fiscal Year 2017 through its Export Verification (EV), grading and classing programs. In a major victory for U.S. beef producers, …

Easy Fruits and Veggies to Grow in Pots

Cathy Isom has some easy fruits and veggies we can grow in pots. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.       Let’s face it, we all want to be green thumbs. And why wouldn’t we want to grow our own food? It really is a lot easier than we think. Container gardening can be done with little fuss, …

UF Helps Slow the Cycle of Food-Insecurity, Obesity

LaToya O’Neal and others at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences are trying to ensure that all people can buy nutritious food and, in turn, curb obesity among those with limited daily access to healthy food. Those who go day to day with little to no access to nutritious food are food-insecure, O’Neal said. About 13 …

A Healthy Impact: Fruits and Vegetables Boost Alabama’s Economy

While fruits and vegetables are undeniably good for the body, they’re also a major boost for Alabama’s economy, Auburn University and Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station economists found in a recently completed analysis of the industry. “Specialty crops is definitely a potential growth area for Alabama,” said Deacue Fields, chair of the College of Agriculture’s Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural …