This is the fourth of five posts that will be featured each Monday from Heather on thankfulness. Read her first post here, second here and third here.
by Heather Lang
When we think of Thanksgiving we think football, feasting, family, fellowship and black Friday shopping. Personally, I can’t help but envision the table overflowing with food that looks like art work, glistening under the lights and just waiting to test the strength of my paper plate as I pile it high. I am extremely grateful for hefty paper plates and sweatpants, but mostly beyond thankful that we as farmers made it through another trying year in order to provide this bountiful harvest our families are about to enjoy.
So, I thought I would sh
are some fun food facts about your Thanksgiving staple foods:
Did you know that your Thanksgiving turkey could be from Minnesota? Minnesota is one of the top turkey producing states. Roughly 450 Minnesota turkey farmers raise nearly 18% of all the birds sold in the United States. Corn and soybeans are feed sources for turkeys. Iowa is ranked #1 in corn production and Cass County, North Dakota is the number 1 county in the nation for soybean bushels harvested and planted in 2017.
Potatoes are the fourth most important food crop in the world and a leading vegetable crop in the United States. Idaho and Washington produce more than half of the annual supply. North Dakota is also one of the major potato growing states.
Sweet potatoes aren’t just for Thanksgiving any more. To meet rising demand, sweet potato production has increased substantially in recent years, achieving a record-high production of 3.1 billion pounds in 2015. North Carolina farmers raise about 40 percent of the nation’s supply. Did you know that George Washington Carver, a famous scientist, developed 118 products from sweet potatoes including glue for postage stamps and starch for sizing cotton fabrics? Don’t forget when you are pouring the honey onto your roasted sweet potatoes that North Dakota is number one in honey production.
When I walk into a place that has freshly made bread I can’t help but take a deep breath in to really take in the mouth-watering smell. I start to envision the butter melting on the buns, the icing running down the cinnamon rolls or slathering some peanut butter and jelly on the bread. There isn’t a smell much better than freshly baked bread.
So, this Thanksgiving when you rip open that bun or indulge in the caramel roll or enjoy that plate of macaroni and cheese dish your aunt just made, know that North Dakota farmers rank number one in the production of durum wheat and spring wheat.
We can’t forget about apple pie for dessert! The top apple producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California and Virginia. Apple trees take four to five years to produce their first fruit and most apples are still picked by hand in the fall. It takes the energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple. Apples ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated. Two-thirds of the fiber and lots of antioxidants are found in the peel. Antioxidants help to reduce damage to cells, which can trigger some diseases. And, thanks to the incredible science of GMO you can now get an apple that won’t brown!
And as you wash down your Thanksgiving meal with an ice-cold glass of milk or as you are putting butter into your pie crust mixture to get that flaky crust everyone desires, remember there are roughly 90 licensed dairy herds in North Dakota which generate approximately $57 million in milk sales annually. We have five plants that process one or more dairy products and it only takes 48 hours for milk to travel from farm to dairy case.
Make sure to thank a farmer when feasting on the bountiful selection on your table this Thanksgiving.