The United States grows a lot of different agricultural products, from soybeans to sunflowers. And each of these crops are suited to different places. We know that tobacco is grown in North Carolina and corn is grown in Iowa.
But it turns out that the geography of American agriculture is much more interesting than I had imagined. After being astonished by the relatively high cost of corn in Kansas City (for the region is known more for its winter wheat), I began to explore the geography of different crops. And I stumbled across this amazing set of county-by-county crop maps put out by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Well, you learn a lot of interesting things. For example, while cotton is associated with the South, it's grown as far away as Arizona and California as well:
And guess where rice is produced? Pretty much just Arkansas, California, and Louisiana:
Hay is grown in most states, but my favorite map is the one for sweet potatoes. Where are they produced? Only in a handful of counties in North Carolina:
For more, check out the USDA site here.
Top image:James Watkins/Flickr/CC
