Following are a few Michigan agricultural facts to think about as you go berry picking around the state or pick up locally grown produce at the farmer’s market.
- Michigan ranks first in the nation in tart cherry production.
- Michigan also ranks first in the production of blueberries and navy beans, cranberry beans, and black turtle beans.
- Michigan is among the nation’s three leading producers of commercial apples.
- Kalamazoo is the birthplace of celery. Commercial celery was grown for the first time in Kalamazoo.
- In the United States, Michigan is among the top five states in the production of over 30 different types of crops.
- Michigan’s forest products industry contributes over $8 billion to Michigan’s economy.
- Michigan’s forest land acreage is the fifth largest in the continental United States.
- Michigan’s forests are growing twice as much timber annually as what is actually being harvested.
- Timber covers 48 percent of Michigan’s total land base.
- The United States and state of Michigan publicly own more than a third of Michigan’s commercial forest land, or approximately 7,000,000 acres of forest. This amount of land, when combined, is larger than the state of Vermont.
Read more >> Getting to Know Michigan
