Possible Implications for U.S. Agriculture From Adoption of Select Dietary Guidelines - FIC

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Possible Implications for U.S. Agriculture From Adoption of Select Dietary Guidelines

To help Americans meet nutritional requirements while staying within caloric recommendations, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, and fat- free or low-fat milk or milk products. This report provides one view of the potential implications for U.S. agriculture if Americans changed their current consumption patterns to meet some of those guidelines. For Americans to meet the fruit, vegetable, and whole-grain recommendations, domestic crop acreage would need to increase by an estimated 7.4 million harvested acres, or 1.7 percent of total U.S. cropland in 2002. To meet the dairy guidelines, consumption of milk and milk products would have to increase by 66 percent; an increase of that magnitude would likely require an increase in the number of dairy cows as well as increased feed grains and, possibly, increased acreage devoted to dairy production.

Publication Name
ERS Economic Research Report
Downloadable Documents
Author
Jean C. Buzby, Hodan Farah Wells and Gary Vocke
Publisher
Washington, DC: USDA Economic Research Service
Page Numbers
35
Publication Date
November 01, 2006
Publication Type
Reports and Guides
State
National
Keywords
Local / Regional Food Systems

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