Have you ever wondered where your Thanksgiving meal comes from? Most consumers buy their ingredients from a local grocery store, but where do these items actually come from? Farmers work hard throughout the year planning, planting, growing and harvesting crops to feed the U.S. and abroad every day. Without their hard work and dedication, consumers would not have the ability to purchase produce, meat and other food every day and even on holidays.
Most traditional Thanksgiving feasts feature turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, green beans and pumpkins. Let’s review some Thanksgiving food statistics from 2021 regarding each of these Thanksgiving staples.
- Minnesota produced the most turkeys at 40.5 million.
- North Carolina produced the most sweet potatoes at 1.8 billion pounds or about 63.5% of the crop grown in the U.S.
- Both Wisconsin and Massachusetts primarily harvested the majority of cranberries.
- Idaho leads the nation in production for sweet potatoes and regular potatoes.
- Again, Wisconsin produced the most green beans in the U.S. This crop was in the top three harvested vegetables along with sweet corn and tomatoes.
- Lastly, most states in the U.S. produce some pumpkins, however Illinois was the top state producing 652 million pounds of pumpkins.
Hopefully this gives you an appreciation of where most Thanksgiving foods come from. This year when you are going around the table discussing what you are thankful for don’t forget to thank the American Farmer.
All of us at Luckey Farmers wish you a safe and bountiful Thanksgiving.
Sources:
https://usafacts.org/articles/thanksgiving-dinner-by-the-government-numbers/
US Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service
