Background
No matter the time of year, you can visit a grocery store or supermarket in almost any community in the United States and find fresh fruit and vegetables from across the country and around the world. In contrast, during the late 1800s, the diets of most U.S. residents did not contain nearly as many fresh fruits and vegetables as we eat today. Also, most fruit and vegetables were consumed relatively near where they were grown. (However, refrigerated railroad freight cars began to be...