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For some, agriculture may not be the first thought that comes to mind when you think of Colorado. Mountains, lakes, and national parks might come first. But to the proud 69,032 farmers and ranchers operating in Colorado, agriculture is their primary thought.

For anyone who wants to see the facts about Missouri agriculture, the 2017 Census of Agriculture is the place to look, with more than 60,000 facts covering every aspect of Missouri agriculture at the state and county levels.

Despite an unusually wet spring followed by an unusually cool June, America’s corn farmers planted even more than they did last year. U.S. farmers have planted 91.7 million acres of corn in 2019, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). That’s about 69 million football fields of corn and 3 percent more corn than last year, far more acres than the next largest crop, soybeans.

Every summer, families across the country turn their thoughts to vacation. Many will travel to South Dakota. Each year, approximately 3 million tourists from all over the world visit Mount Rushmore to experience the patriotic site. Millions more will enjoy the stunning views of Badlands National Park and abundant wildlife roaming through Custer State Park. But while South Dakota may be nicknamed The Mount Rushmore State, South Dakota always has been, and will continue to be, an agricultural state. Agriculture is the life-blood of South Dakota and the state’s No. 1 industry.

Once again, the 2017 Census of Agriculture shows Wyoming producers operated the largest farms and ranches in the U.S. with an average of 2,430 acres per farm, over five times the national average size.

It might not be the Giants’ year in baseball, but in U.S. agriculture, California is clearly the MVP in sales. According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, California’s 70,527 farmers ranked No. 1 in agricultural sales with $45.2 billion; this accounted for nearly 12 percent of the U.S. total and was over $16 billion more than the No. 2 state. In addition, Fresno, Tulare, Monterey, Kern, Merced, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin Counties led all U.S. counties in sales. In fact, Fresno County’s agricultural sales were greater than 25 states.

Kansas farmers know how to grow wheat. In 2017, Kansas ranked No. 1 in wheat production, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Kansas farms produced 319 million bushels of wheat from 7 million harvested acres, accounting for almost 18 percent of all wheat grown in the United States.

According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, Delaware had 2,302 farms that produced $1.5 billion in agricultural sales. That works out to an average of $637,000 per farm and ranks Delaware second in the nation behind California in per farm sales! Delaware ranks No. 1 nationally in the value of agricultural sales per farmland acre at $2,791 and also ranks No. 1 for lima bean acreage with nearly a third of the nation’s acreage.

With the recent release of the 2017 Census of Agriculture, the agricultural industry has a chance to remind consumers about the importance of agriculture, and in Oklahoma that is no exception. With $7.5 billion of agriculture products sold in 2017, Oklahoma Agriculture continues to show its importance.