Oxstones Investment Club™
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 Commodity | Number of States |
|---|---|
| Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | 16 |
| Poultry and eggs | 9 |
| Cattle and calves | 7 |
| Milk from cows | 7 |
| Nursery, greenhouse, floriculture and sod | 4 |
| Fruit, tree nuts, and berries | 3 |
| Vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes | 2 |
| Aquaculture | 1 |
| Other crops and hay | 1 |
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:
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.
| Rank | State | Agricultural Commodity | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | California | Fruit, tree nuts, and berries | $17,638,972,000 |
| #2 | Iowa | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $17,146,679,000 |
| #3 | Illinois | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $13,589,230,000 |
| #4 | Texas | Cattle and calves | $13,013,127,000 |
| #5 | Minnesota | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $12,304,415,000 |
| #6 | Nebraska | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $10,698,861,000 |
| #7 | Kansas | Cattle and calves | $10,153,087,000 |
| #8 | North Dakota | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $8,813,348,000 |
| #9 | Indiana | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $7,217,854,000 |
| #10 | Ohio | Grains, oilseeds, dry beans, and dry peas | $5,834,600,000 |
Tags: agricultural sector, berries, california, dry beans, dry peas, economic opportunities, fruit, grains, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, legal cannabis, Minnesota, natural resources, Nebraska, north dakota, oilseeds, texas, tree nuts, valuable agricultural commodity