Produce commercially grown by state

[GON]

Interesting chart. One of numerous thing the chart does not show is the vast amount of produce currently grown in the Yuma, AZ region. Yuma, with fertile soils as a result of the Colorado River, 360 days of sunshine per year, and mile winters promotes produce production all year long.

 

[BobsArmory]

Cool Chart. I know some of the crop locations are because of environment but I wonder how much is due to distribution networks?

 

[GON]

Cool Chart. I know some of the crop locations are because of environment but I wonder how much is due to distribution networks?

That is a good question. A few other questions include labor availability, and government subsidies.

Iowa is a great example. Some of Iowa has the most fertile soil in the world. Yet Iowa primarily grows corn and soybeans. Iowa could produce massive amounts of numerous vegetables. Government involvement strongly promotes corn and soybean crops in Iowa, at the expense of other vegetables.

 

[Hall]

Notice the midwestern states (Ohio, Michigan, etc) that are the only tomato producers behind California ? It's indoor greenhouses that create "daylight" conditions for ~20 hours a day.

This picture shows the light from one of them and was taken at night (note the street lights and porch lights are on):

 

[c502cid]

Great post! I'm surprised by oranges being tops in California. Where I grew up in So Cal, it was Valencia oranges as far as the eye could see. Most of that is gone. I worked in the central valley for years, and didn't see much oranges being grown there anymore, so where are they being grown?

 

[AZjeff]

Terrain and precipitation determine where different crops can grow or grow best. Crops that require predictable amounts of water and much hand labor like head lettuce, cabbage, etc. likely do better on dead flat land like the irrigated land in Arizona and Cali while wheat, corn, etc. do fine on rolling terrain and natural precip like Iowa. Some crops like lettuce require every head be touched by hands during harvesting while one man in a machine can harvest hundreds of acres of wheat or corn alone. It takes dozens of people to harvest some of the crops from what I've seen here, walking slowly behind a machine doing whatever it is they do.

Phoenix metro is losing hundreds if not thousands of acres of farm land yearly. On the western side one section will have endless giant warehouses being built and the section beside it will be in crops. Digress, sorry.

 

[dishdude]

I read a few years ago that pretty much all the winter romaine lettuce for the US comes from Yuma, AZ.

 

[Hall]

Who knew that products like apples, potatoes, etc that you buy in grocery stores aren't fresh, but can be 6-12 months old or older ?

 

[dadto2]

Who knew that products like apples, potatoes, etc that you buy in grocery stores aren't fresh, but can be 6-12 months old or older ?

Anyone who knew that those are harvested annually.

 

[spackard]

No almonds, no strawberries.

 

[y_p_w]

Great post! I'm surprised by oranges being tops in California. Where I grew up in So Cal, it was Valencia oranges as far as the eye could see. Most of that is gone. I worked in the central valley for years, and didn't see much oranges being grown there anymore, so where are they being grown?

There's been a severe decline in orange production in Florida. Hurricanes destroying trees, disease, etc. Not sure what the image represents though. I was thinking fresh vs juice oranges? It's still a significant portion of orange production in the US.

https://citrusindustry.net/2024/05/07/florida-orange-production-plummeted-years/

 

[Pablo]

No almonds, no strawberries.

Raspberries. Blueberries. (WA)

 

[Kira]

Don't forget endive, fiddleheads, tobacco,

A shout out to poor, forgotten Wyoming.....and pineapples come from where?

 

[y_p_w]

....and pineapples come from where?

Costa Rica?

Seriously though. Once I was wrangled into attending a University of Hawaii Alumni Association event. Wore my best aloha shirt. But at every table there was a pineapple, I guess for reasons. But in conversation someone asked if they were Hawaiian grown. They still had the tags attached, which indicated they were distributed by Del Monte and I think were grown in Costa Rica. I think they were expecting maybe something from Maui. I guess that's all that's left of commercial pineapple growing in all of Hawaii.

 

[mk378]

The chart is only about domestic production, not the consumer side. As far as where produce on the US market comes from, for some of these items a lot is imported.

 

[y_p_w]

The chart is only about domestic production, not the consumer side. As far as where produce on the US market comes from, for some of these items a lot is imported.

Depends on the season. Obviously most of the country doesn't have suitable weather except for more expensive greenhouse growing. Even where there's year round growing, the colder month often have poor yields and poor quality. I saw some California strawberries for sale in December, and they looked sad compared to what was imported from Mexico. Winter blueberries are almost always going to be from Peru or Chile.