The big picture, according to Andy Jerardo, the report's author, shows the average share of food imports consumed by Americans has climbed from 7.8 percent in 1981-1985 to 11.1 percent in 1997-2001. That's a staggering 50 percent increase in America's taste for imported food in just 20 years.Oh, come on, that just a silly overreaction. If in 1980 the share of food imports were .001 percent and in 2000 they were 1 percent, would they rave about a 99,900% percent increase and say the sky is falling? lol The point is that 11.1 isn't far from 7.8 just like 1 percent wouldn't be much. It probably varies more than that from year to year.
Put a better way, in ~1980 the domestic share was 92.2%, in ~2000 it was 88.9%. Not much of a change at all. What silliness.