Growing Home: The Diminishing Colorado Iceberg Lettuce

For most of the last century, Colorado lettuce meant iceberg. But America's salad bowl has changed. In the 1990s, Americans consumed about 24 pounds of iceberg lettuce per person yearly, compared with only six pounds of leaf lettuce. By 2024, iceberg had fallen by 50%, while leaf lettuce’s onsumption surged. San Luis Valley growers have changed with our tastes. Along with iceberg, Valley farms now grow romaine, and spring leafy mixes. Iceberg hasn't disappeared, but now Iceberg lettuce is a minority with leafy lettuce increasingly filling our salad bowls.