States that grow the most vegetables
When it comes to their daily greens, many Americans like to shop local. Unlike fruits, the U.S. is able to grow most of the vegetables it consumes domestically, and the market for home-grown produce has boomed over the past decade. Since the USDA began keeping an inventory of farmers markets across the U.S. nearly 10 years ago, the number of recorded markets has increased to 8,720, with total estimated annual sales ringing in at $1 billion.
No matter where you live, however, it is likely that the sprouts and spuds you're perusing down the street were grown in one of just a select handful of locations. Ten states were responsible for 79% of U.S. vegetable sales in 2017; among those states, California on its own accounted for 42%. Among the vegetables that are imported, about three out of every four pounds of international vegetables come from Mexico.
Stacker cited data from the Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Census, most recently completed in 2017, to identify the states producing the most vegetables. A few important caveats to note: Data on acreage for Kansas and Nevada was not available, so these two states are listed as unranked with information on the number of farms. States are ranked by the harvested acreage of vegetables for fresh consumption, rather than processing. Items like potatoes are considered vegetables, but often go on to processing rather than produce aisle sales, and are thus not counted amongst statewide vegetable sales.
Read on to find out how much your state contributes to the number of fresh veggies on shelves at markets across the U.S.
