AgriAuditor Research · July 2026

The U.S. Import Gap Report 2026

Name: U.S. Import Gap Report 2026
Creator: AgriAuditor
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Every year the United States is a net importer of 18.1 million tonnes of just the twenty crops below — many of which are climatically viable on American soil. We ranked U.S. net crop imports from UN Comtrade data and checked each one against our climate-envelope engine to answer a simple question: which of these could be grown at home, and where?

Key findings

4.1 million tonnes of bananas — the single largest gap — but bananas are genuinely tropical; re-shoring potential is minimal.
1.9 million tonnes of tomatoes are net-imported despite tomatoes being viable in nearly every U.S. state in season — the largest growable gap.
1.16 million tonnes of avocados are imported while Southern California, South Florida and the Rio Grande Valley remain climatically suitable.
1.13 million tonnes of oats — a cool-climate grain the northern plains grew at scale for a century — now arrive mostly from abroad.
Of the top 20 net-imported crops, 12 are viable across most of the country; only 4 are strictly tropical.

The top 20 U.S. net crop imports

1.Bananas4.1M t

Tropical — only far-south Florida and Hawaii fringe production · see where it grows

2.Tomatoes1.9M t

Viable in nearly every U.S. state in season · see where it grows

3.Coffee (green)1.3M t

Hawaii and Puerto Rico only · see where it grows

4.Pineapples1.2M t

Hawaii; greenhouse elsewhere · see where it grows

5.Avocados1.2M t

Southern California, South Florida, Rio Grande Valley · see where it grows

6.Cucumbers1.1M t

Viable nationwide in season · see where it grows

7.Chilli Peppers (fresh)1.1M t

Southern states in open field; greenhouse north · see where it grows

8.Oats1.1M t

Northern plains — a classic re-shoring candidate · see where it grows

9.Lemons & Limes857k t

California, Arizona and Florida citrus belts · see where it grows

10.Watermelons564k t

South and Midwest in season · see where it grows

11.Mangoes & Guavas556k t

South Florida only · see where it grows

12.Grapes532k t

Widely viable across the U.S. · see where it grows

13.Pumpkins458k t

Viable nationwide · see where it grows

14.Cabbage415k t

Viable nationwide · see where it grows

15.Cantaloupes410k t

Widely viable in season · see where it grows

16.Rye285k t

Northern states · see where it grows

17.Onions240k t

Viable nationwide · see where it grows

18.Blueberries235k t

Pacific Northwest, Michigan, Maine, New Jersey, Southeast · see where it grows

19.Papayas210k t

South Florida and Hawaii · see where it grows

20.Carrots193k t

Viable nationwide · see where it grows

Methodology

Net imports = imports − exports per commodity, latest full reporting year, in kilotonnes (1 kt = 1,000 tonnes), sourced from UN Comtradeand refreshed weekly. Commodity aliases sharing an HS code (e.g. mangoes & guavas under HS 0804.50) are consolidated and labelled accordingly. Domestic viability comes from the AgriAuditor climate-envelope engine, which compares each crop's temperature, water and frost tolerances against 3-year climate normals for 154 U.S. and international growing regions — full details on our methodology page.

Cite this report:AgriAuditor, "U.S. Import Gap Report 2026", agriauditor.com/reports/import-gap-2026. Figures and rankings are free to republish with a link (CC BY 4.0). Journalists: we can pull custom cuts of this data — contact us.

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