As Americans gather around the Thanksgiving holiday table, it’s important to remember that many of the items we enjoy are grown right here in the U.S. Betty Resnick, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says specialty crops play a key role in the annual feast.
“Cranberries, celery, potatoes, and sweet potatoes, green beans and green peas, pumpkins and carrots. A lot of great specialty crops that make it to our Thanksgiving table. It really just blew me away how American these products truly are. Products in each region of the country are going to be on our Thanksgiving table, and most of these products, a huge percentage of them, are domestically produced.”
While our Thanksgiving favorites come from all across the country, there’s one state that contributes heavily to the meal, and that state may surprise you.
“California produces a lot of specialty crops, and that includes a lot of Thanksgiving specialty crops, but Wisconsin is like a secret superstar of our Thanksgiving table. Wisconsin is the country’s top producer of cranberries and green beans, and also the third-largest producer of green peas, potatoes, and carrots.”
Resnick says our holiday meal is truly an American effort.
“We’re going to have products from each region of the country. States ranging from Massachusetts to Washington, Minnesota to Mississippi, all ranked in the top three for at least one Thanksgiving product in our report, another 15 states were represented as a top producer at least one food item. So, I think it’s pretty incredible that food from literally every corner of our country is going to be on our plate, and I think that we can all be more appreciative of the farmers that grow our food this time of year.”
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