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The Most Valuable Agricultural Commodity in Each State

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The Most Valuable Agricultural Commodity in Each State

The Most Valuable Agricultural Commodity in Each State

The United States has an incredible amount of geographic diversity.

From the fertile farmland of the Great Plains to the volcanic islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, each state has been dealt a unique geographical hand.

Each geographical setting can be the source of economic opportunities, such as tourism or the development of natural resources. It also partially dictates what kind of agricultural choices are available for farmers and local economies.

A Higher Level Look

Today’s infographic comes to us from HowMuch.net, and it color codes each state based on the most valuable agricultural commodity it produces, based on data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

At a big picture level, how does the country break down?

Most Valuable Agricultural CommodityNumber of States
Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas16
Poultry and eggs9
Cattle and calves7
Milk from cows7
Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod4
Fruit, tree nuts, and berries3
Vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes2
Aquaculture1
Other crops and hay1

Broadly speaking, the category of “Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas” is the most valuable agricultural commodity in 16 states, while aquaculture was the most important in only one state, which is Alaska.

It’s interesting that there are niches that end up deriving massive amounts of value in only a few states. For example, the category of “Fruit, tree nuts, and berries” is the biggest in just three states, but California makes $17.6 billion from it every year – more than the size of the entire agricultural sector of some states.

State by State Data

Finally, here’s a look at the data for each state in a sortable table:

RankStateAgricultural CommodityValue
#1CaliforniaFruit, tree nuts, and berries$17,638,972,000
#2IowaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$17,146,679,000
#3IllinoisGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$13,589,230,000
#4TexasCattle and calves$13,013,127,000
#5MinnesotaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$12,304,415,000
#6NebraskaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$10,698,861,000
#7KansasCattle and calves$10,153,087,000
#8North DakotaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$8,813,348,000
#9IndianaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$7,217,854,000
#10OhioGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$5,834,600,000
#11South DakotaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$5,809,792,000
#12WisconsinMilk from cows$4,952,039,000
#13North CarolinaPoultry and eggs$4,837,026,000
#14GeorgiaPoultry and eggs$4,773,837,000
#15ColoradoCattle and calves$4,321,308,000
#16ArkansasGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$4,214,355,000
#17MissouriGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$3,922,873,000
#18AlabamaPoultry and eggs$3,624,852,000
#19MichiganGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$3,613,250,000
#20OklahomaCattle and calves$3,402,919,000
#21WashingtonFruit, tree nuts, and berries$2,931,370,000
#22MississippiPoultry and eggs$2,744,048,000
#23New YorkMilk from cows$2,417,398,000
#24IdahoMilk from cows$2,333,364,000
#25PennsylvaniaMilk from cows$1,966,892,000
#26FloridaFruit, tree nuts, and berries$1,847,805,000
#27LouisianaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$1,832,208,000
#28MontanaGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$1,787,162,000
#29KentuckyGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$1,656,983,000
#30South CarolinaPoultry and eggs$1,476,817,000
#31TennesseeGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$1,301,303,000
#32New MexicoMilk from cows$1,251,065,000
#33VirginiaPoultry and eggs$1,161,564,000
#34WyomingCattle and calves$1,101,195,000
#35MarylandPoultry and eggs$922,999,000
#36OregonCattle and calves$894,485,000
#37DelawarePoultry and eggs$811,301,000
#38ArizonaVegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes$764,062,000
#39VermontMilk from cows$504,884,000
#40New JerseyNursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod$405,247,000
#41West VirginiaPoultry and eggs$401,439,000
#42UtahCattle and calves$364,214,000
#43NevadaOther crops and hay$280,554,000
#44ConnecticutNursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod$252,923,000
#45MaineVegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes$207,254,000
#46HawaiiGrains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas$152,930,000
#47MassachusettsNursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod$144,188,000
#48New HampshireMilk from cows$54,798,000
#49Rhode IslandNursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod$32,831,000
#50AlaskaAquaculture$29,774,000

As the legal cannabis industry continues to take off, it’ll be interesting to see if the USDA incorporates that crop into its rankings in future years.

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Agriculture

The World’s Top Cocoa Producing Countries

Here are the largest cocoa producing countries globally—from Côte d’Ivoire to Brazil—as cocoa prices hit record highs.

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This tree map graphic shows the world's biggest cocoa producers.

The World’s Top Cocoa Producing Countries

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

West Africa is home to the largest cocoa producing countries worldwide, with 3.9 million tonnes of production in 2022.

In fact, there are about one million farmers in Côte d’Ivoire supplying cocoa to key customers such as Nestlé, Mars, and Hershey. But the massive influence of this industry has led to significant forest loss to plant cocoa trees.

This graphic shows the leading producers of cocoa, based on data from the UN FAO.

Global Hotspots for Cocoa Production

Below, we break down the top cocoa producing countries as of 2022:

Country2022 Production, Tonnes
🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire2.2M
🇬🇭 Ghana1.1M
🇮🇩 Indonesia667K
🇪🇨 Ecuador337K
🇨🇲 Cameroon300K
🇳🇬 Nigeria280K
🇧🇷 Brazil274K
🇵🇪 Peru171K
🇩🇴 Dominican Republic76K
🌍 Other386K

With 2.2 million tonnes of cocoa in 2022, Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producer, accounting for a third of the global total.

For many reasons, the cocoa trade in Côte d’Ivoire and Western Africa has been controversial. Often, farmers make about 5% of the retail price of a chocolate bar, and earn $1.20 each day. Adding to this, roughly a third of cocoa farms operate on forests that are meant to be protected.

As the third largest producer, Indonesia produced 667,000 tonnes of cocoa with the U.S., Malaysia, and Singapore as major importers. Overall, small-scale farmers produce 95% of cocoa in the country, but face several challenges such as low pay and unwanted impacts from climate change. Alongside aging trees in the country, these setbacks have led productivity to decline.

In South America, major producers include Ecuador and Brazil. In the early 1900s, Ecuador was the world’s largest cocoa producing country, however shifts in the global marketplace and crop disease led its position to fall. Today, the country is most known for its high-grade single-origin chocolate, with farms seen across the Amazon rainforest.

Altogether, global cocoa production reached 6.5 million tonnes, supported by strong demand. On average, the market has grown 3% annually over the last several decades.

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