It wasn’t that long ago when the US Congress declared pizza as a source of some of your

daily vegetable intake. The bill proposed back in 2011 allowed the USDA to count two

tablespoons of tomato paste as a vegetable.

But as bad as that sounds. That’s exactly how most Americans are getting their vegetables.

So the thing is, the USDA recommends that we eat about 2.5 to 3 cups of vegetables a

day, but a recent survey from the Centers for Disease control found that 87% of adults

don’t get that much. Instead, the vegetables we do eat like tomatoes and potatoes are in

the form of processed foods like French Fries and tomato paste on pizza.

But even if things change and people start eating healthy now, there’s a bigger problem.

There’s simply not enough veggies to go around.

Recently the USDA found that only 1.7 cups of veggies are available for every person.

And not even the kind that’s recommend. Daily recommendations promote a variety of

veggies. From dark leafy greens to colorful veggies and tasty legumes.

A recent report by the USDA found that potatoes, tomatoes, and lettuce make up close to 60

percent of U.S. vegetable availability. Unfortunately, most of those produce are set for processing

into less healthy foods like potato chips and tomato sauces.

So what are farmers growing? Well the top five most common crops in America are corn,

soybeans, hay, wheat and cotton. Of the 300 million acres of farmland used for food, only

a small portion, 14 million acres, are used for fruits and veggies and that includes the

stuff we grow for processed foods like chips.

And they aren’t growing these crops to meet demands of American appetites, a lot of it

has less to do with the nation’s food habits and more to do with price. The Federal government

heavily subsidizes crops like corn. Which might be good for the food supply except most

of it doesn’t get eaten by people. According to the National Corn Growers Association,

about eighty percent of all corn grown in the U.S. is consumed by domestic and overseas

livestock, poultry, and fish production. Only 12% of corn is consumed directly or indirectly

as corn syrup for things like soda.

Farmers grow whatever crops are the most profitable, and that doesn’t always mean food. Like

in 2011 a lot of Southern farmers switched from growing food to growing cotton as the

price of cotton soared. Webb Wallace, executive director of the Cotton and Grain Producers

of the Lower Rio Grande Valley said that “It’s good for the farmer, but from a humanitarian

perspective it’s kind of scary.”

And well this isn’t new. Americans have always prized profit over produce. Some of

the earliest settlers grew crops like tobacco that they could sell rather than food they

could survive on. As a result. Well a lot of people starved.

So it’s clear our agricultural system needs a bit of an overhaul. And we could do our

part to demand more yummy veggies. And thankfully veggies are becoming trendy. One of the most

popular leafy greens of late is Kale. How did Kale become such a super veg and just

how good for you is it? Check out this video to find out more.

So the question is, what veggies are your favorite? I’m a weirdo and really love brussel

sprouts.