South America (led by Brazil, Chile, and Colombia) averaged $15.6 billion in U.S. imports from 2017 to 21, consisting of horticultural, sugar, and tropical products in which the region has a comparative or seasonal advantage.

Top Contributors:
Just five states—Arkansas, California, Idaho, Nebraska, and Texas—accounted for:
50.1% of irrigated acres
55.1% of total irrigation water applied

Together, they irrigated 53.1 million acres—about one-fourth of their farmland—using 81.0 million acre-feet of water, a slight 2.8% decline from 2018.
Interestingly, the average water usage per acre remained consistent at 1.5 acre-feet, highlighting opportunities for innovation in water efficiency.

All of this discarded food could provide five meals to each of the 47.4 million people experiencing food insecurity in the United States.

#FoodWaste #Thanksgiving #Sustainability

Source: ReFED

The 798,568 metric tons of CO₂ emissions from wasted food are equivalent to the emissions from driving 190,000 gas-powered cars for a year.