Did you eat something today? If you did, thank your friendly neighborhood farmer!
Whether you’re in our Austin apartments or Dallas apartments or anywhere in between, chances are that you’re near a local farm that supplies your grocery store shelves!
Here are some of the largest and most valuable crops grown in Texas!
Popular crops grown in Texas
Corn
Annual production value: $1.15 billion
You’ll find corn anywhere you go in Texas. It makes sense, of course, when the crop is the third largest crop grown in the state behind cotton and hay. The central and southern regions of the state produce the highest yields of maize corn, most of which goes toward animal feed for the state’s equally-valuable cattle industry.
Wheat
Annual production value: $354.90 million
Upward of 6 million acres of the High Plains, Central Blacklands and Rolling Plains are dedicated to wheat fields, the harvest of which goes primarily to cattle feed and other livestock and animal feed.
Rice
Annual production value: $206.99 million
Rice needs plenty of water to grow, so it makes sense that the low-lying coastal counties host the majority of rice paddies in the state. In total, there are about 195,000 acres of rice paddies spread through 20 different counties along Texas’ Gulf Coast.
Nearly all the rice grown in Texas is of the long grain variety, which gets exported to domestic and international markets year-round.
Peanuts
Annual production value: $131.04 million
Native to South America but now grown all over the world, peanuts are a versatile crop that can be manufactured into a variety of products. Here in Texas, peanuts are used to make peanut butter, peanut oil and snack peanuts, while the leftover vines are baked and incorporated into cattle feed.
Potatoes
Annual production value: $112.85 million
Potatoes are a popular and valuable crop in Texas, alongside other tuber and root crops like carrots, beets and turnips. Sweet potatoes account for the largest percentage of root crops grown in the state, making Texas the fifth-largest producer of sweet potatoes in the nation!
Onions
Annual production value: $90 million
Most of the onions (and other bulb crops) grown in Texas come from the Lower Rio Grande Valley or the High Plains, where weather allows the crops to go through a vital chilling period that allows them to grow to full size.
Onions are so prominent in the Texas agricultural industry that the Texas State legislature named a Texas-bred onion variety as the official state vegetable back in 1997. The Texas 1015 Sweet Onion, as it’s called, is named for the ideal date on which to plant the valuable cash crop.
Watermelon
Annual production value: $84.86 million
Out of all the annual crops grown in Texas — as in, plants that grow and die entirely within one year — watermelon is the largest. Around 42,000 acres of the juicy fruit are grown in upwards of 100 counties, so you can be sure that your hot summers are sure to always be full of those beautiful fruity snacks!
Pecans
Annual production value: $47.66 million
Pecans were an important crop to residents of Texas long before Texas was even a thing!
Native to this south-central area of the continent, nuts from the pecan tree have been harvested by Native Americans dating as far back as prehistoric times! It’s been such a vital part of the lives and diets for the people living here that the very word “pecan” comes from an Algonquin word meaning “requiring a stone to crack”.
Today, about 25.5 million pounds of pecans are harvested in Texas each year, and the pecan enjoys a celebrity status as not only the official state nut, but also as the state tree and the state pie!
Citrus
Annual production value: $38 million
Nearly all of the citrus fruits grown in Texas are grown in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, where ample sunlight, rain and warm weather create ideal growing conditions.
Oranges and grapefruit account for the majority of the citrus fruits grown in the state, making up 30% and 60% of the entire crop, respectively. In fact, a type of grapefruit cultivated in the Valley back in 1929 became so popular that it’s been the official Texas state fruit for nearly a hundred years!
Spinach
Annual production value: $12.39 million
Texas is a haven for spinach lovers, as there are upwards of 3,000 acres of the green, leafy crop grown around the state. Around two-thirds of the total acreage goes toward fresh spinach on store shelves and market stands, while the remainder goes toward processed spinach products.
Oats
Annual production value: $11.93 million
With similar growing conditions as wheat crops and with products just as versatile, oats account for around 750,000 acres of cropland in the central and southern regions of the state. A large portion of the harvested land is also used for winter grazing for cattle and calves.
Now you know about all the crops and types of produce grown in Texas, check out the state foods and see if you can incorporate some of them into your next meal!
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Featured photo courtesy Pixabay/dimitrisvetsikas1969
Colleen Ford is a South African who now lives on Oahu in Hawai'i. She loves to travel, camp, spearfish and hike. She's also part of a super cool canoe club and is pretty decent at it. Colleen enjoys Star Wars and also not being cold ever.
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