American spinach consumption hits 60-year high Spinach consumption in the United States has reached its highest level since 1960, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. U.S. spinach crop (fresh and processing) averaged $490 million per year during 2018-20, with the fresh-market account- ing for 97% of the value.
China leads the world in spinach pro- duction, according to theUnitedNations Food andAgricultureOrganization, with 76%of the global crop. TheU.S. ranks sec- ond, with 4% of world output. Imports accounted for just 4% of the fresh spinach consumed in the U.S. during 2015-19, the report said, but imports of frozen spinach have trended “sharply higher” during the past two decades. “During 2015-19,” USDA said, “the im- port share of processing spinach aver- aged 52%—up from less than 4% during 1995-99, with import volumes trending higher over the past 20 years.” Most imported frozen spinach comes fromChina, at 55%, withMexico supply- ing one-third. Exports of U.S. spinach have not changed greatly as a share of supply during the past few decades, USDA said, withalmost 12%of fresh spinach supplies being exported and 2% of processing spinach heading to foreignmarkets. is not possible prior to tomato plant- ing, consider treating the weeds with insecticide before tilling or applying herbicide. If possible, avoid planting near a known virus source that cannot be addressed otherwise.” Although resistant varieties may no longer provide complete protection, he said they remain a key part of an overall IPM program to manage the virus. “SW5 resistance remains an import- ant component of a management strat- egy,” Turini said. “Because the wild-type strain is also present with the SW5 resis- tance-breaking strain, higher disease in- cidence would be expected in varieties lacking SW5.” Plus, he said, “in many production areas, there is no evidence of the resis- tance-breaking strain. However, avoid- ance of total reliance on SW5 for man- agement of TSWV is prudent.” San Joaquin Val ley tomato grow- ers contending with this new strain of TSWV—and Sacramento Valley growers hoping they do not have to—can watch and wait as researchers work to discover new sources of variety resistance and to fine-tune new strategies for managing the disease. “Research is currently underway to better understand this strain and our management options,” Turini said. ( Bo b J o hn s o n i s a r e p o r t e r i n Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
TheUSDA reported per capita spinach availability—a stand-in for consump- tion—at 3.2 pounds in 2019. “Driven by fresh-market use, consum- er interest in spinach rose in the United States during the past few decades due to new products (e.g., baby bagged spin- ach), rising disposable incomes, and shifts in U.S. consumers’ tastes and pref- erences,” the USDA report said. Trends in how Americans consume spinach have varied during the decades, but USDA noted the vegetable “has long enjoyed a reputation as a functional food packed with vitamins andminerals ben- eficial to human health.” Total per capita spinach availability has trended upward since bottoming out in the late 1980s, the report said. As now, fresh spinachwas the primary driving force in themarket prior toWorld War II, with availabilty of fresh spinach peaking at 2.9 pounds per person in1939. In the 1940s and for years thereafter, USDA said, “the convenience of canned spinachwas joined by the surging popu- larity of frozen spinach (frozenvegetables were viewed as upscale) to whittle away at fresh availability.” Spinach and green peas were the first frozen vegetables to be test-marketed in retail stores in 1930, “jump-starting a new retail food sector,” the report said. Fresh-market spinach availability fell to its lowest levels in the early 1970s. Since then, USDA said, fresh sales have trended upward, peaking at a record 729 million pounds in 2015-19—about 12 times greater than in 1970-74. What the report described as “a tem- porary trough in this upward trend” oc- curred following a 2006 food safety out- break traced toE. coli bacteria in spinach, “requiring several years for consumer trust to be restored.” Fresh spinach accounted for 70% of American spinach availability during 2015-19, the report said, up from 49% 20 years earlier.
Once primarily consumed canned or frozen, spinach is now eaten mostly fresh. California farms grow more than two-thirds of the spinach produced in the United States.
“At the same time, availability of pro- cessed spinach, although unaffected by the food safety incident, did not change great ly over the past few decades,” USDA reported, noting that although per capita availability of canned spin- ach trended sharply lower, “availability of frozen spinach steadied since peak- ing in 2004 and now accounts for about
85% of processing spinach.” About one-third of domestic spinach acreage in 2019 was produced following organic standards, the report said, sec- ond only to potatoes among commodi- ties grown organically. California farms account for 68% of U.S. spinach output, with Arizona No. 2 at 23%. USDA said the farm value of the
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Fresno County lettuce, which he said “provides evidence that it is likely to re- main a challenge to producers.” The wide host range for TSWV in- cludes lettuce, common bean, celery, peppers and potatoes, as well as weeds such as sow thistle, prickly lettuce, mal- low, mustards, wild radish, London rocket, shepherd’s purse, pineapple weed and many others. Newsources of variety resistance could eventually be themost effective and eco- nomical answer to the challenge, Turini said, but that takes time. “We have been screening many va- rieties for damage from this strain,” he said. “The pear tomatoes have been showing cons i stent ly higher inci - dence of the disease. Some varieties had much lower levels of TSWV, but nothing had zero.” Turini has spent the last three years studying more than 40 widely grown to- mato varieties, to learn the differences in how readily they host the virus, the extent to which they suffer canopy die- back, and to determine losses in yield and crop quality. There are differences among varieties, but there are no silver bullets to replace the one that has been lost inan important growing area. “The most effective TSWV control strategy is an integrated management program,” Turini advised. “Reduce weed dens i t ies and t i l l susceptible crops immediately after harvest,” he continued. “If sanitation
Specialists describe lettuce as a poten- tially important bridge host, capable of harboring the virus in the wintermonths when there are no field-grown tomatoes in the San Joaquin Valley. The v i rus present in the af fect- ed p l ant s was s imi l a r t o a re s i s - tance-breaking st rain repor ted in Europe, according to UC Davis plant virologist Bob Gilbertson. “This strain increased in distribution over the past two years,” Turini said, “and was detected in processing and fresh-market tomatoes as well as in cel- ery, lettuce, pepper and sow thistle.” In Ma rch 2018 , t he SW5 re s i s - tance-breaking strain was detected in
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8 Ag Alert May 5, 2021
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