*** VD 13 Commentary Thread ***

[Kevin Seitzer]

California is number two among the states in mushroom revenue, at $217 million, which does not surprise me, given all the mushroom farms that I used to drive past in Gilroy. But can anyone guess the number one state? I would have had no idea.

[chancellor]

I can't think of anywhere that does more Shrooms than California.

[cavebird]

According to the USDA, Texas has the most land in "farms". I put "farms" in quotes because the fact that Montana is second tells you all you need to know.

The official definition is:
A farm is “any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the year.” Government payments are included in sales. Ranches, institutional farms, experimental and research farms, and Indian Reservations are included as farms. Places with the entire acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and other government conservation programs are counted as farms.

In terms of revenue, California was the leading agricultural state in 2018, with $49.8 billion in receipts. Iowa was second at $27.5 billion, and the rest of the top 10 was as follows:
Texas $22.0b
Nebraska $21.3b
Minnesota $17.3b
Illinois $16.8b
Kansas $16.0b
North Carolina $11.1b
Wisconsin $11.0b
Indiana $10.5b

I think that list probably comports more with people's idea of farm production than the measure of area under "farm" production.

https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?ID=17844

I am sure land in farms is inflated by large amounts of ranch area, which isn't quite what we often think about as farms.

[The Feral Slasher]

California is also the sole producer for a lot of specialty products. For example, all $63 million in artichokes and all $33 million in kiwifruit produced in 2018 in the United States came from California.

We need some heat maps for all the agri talk

[Kevin Seitzer]

[Kevin Seitzer]

I could have told you North Dakota (and Manitoba) were big canola producers. I had no idea western Oklahoma was also a canola hotspot.

[Kevin Seitzer]

[Kevin Seitzer]

Michiganders are quite the picklers, apparently!

[Kevin Seitzer]

And heyelander lives in pickle country, as well.

[Kevin Seitzer]

[Kevin Seitzer]

Beware the untamed blueberry!

[Kevin Seitzer]

[Kevin Seitzer]

It appears Washington is a bigger pear producer than I realized.

[Kevin Seitzer]

[Kevin Seitzer]

Offered with no comment.