Weighing in With a Menu of Culinary Delights Part 3

3 million tons
The 2006 contracted production of sweet corn for processing. Minnesota, with 924,000 tons, led the nation. (Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service at <http://www.nass.usda.gov/>)

$5.7 million
The value of U.S. imports of live turkeys during the first half of 2006 — 96 percent from Canada. Our northern neighbor accounted for all of the cranberries the United States imported ($1.3 million). When it comes to sweet potatoes, however, the Dominican Republic was the source of 86 percent ($2.5 million) of total imports ($3 million). The United States ran a $900,000 trade deficit in live turkeys over the period, but surpluses of $4.9 million in cranberries and $16.5 million in sweet potatoes. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

13.4 pounds
The quantity of turkey consumed by the typical American in 2004 with a hearty helping devoured at Thanksgiving time. Per capita sweet potato consumption was 4.7 pounds. (Source: Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007.)