Many Americans will visit farms in October to sip cider, pick apples or pumpkins, pet the animals, and go on hayrides. It’s harvest time for many crops. Have you ever wondered where the food on our tables comes from? Which foods are grown right here in the United States? Taking a quiz is a great way to find out how much you know and to learn things you didn’t know.
The United States imports food from all over the world, but we also produce commodity and non-commodity crops for our own consumption and export to other countries.
Major U.S. commodity crops are soybean, corn, wheat, and cotton. Out of almost 392 million acres of crops planted in the United States, over 231 million acres of land is used for commodity crops. Commodity crops are large-scale agricultural products grown for sale in the global market instead of for direct consumption. Our quiz focuses on the top non-commodity crops grown in each state excluding dairy, eggs, aquaculture, or livestock. You may know the important non-commodity crops grown in your state, but can you recognize them for all 50 states? As a bonus, can you guess the answer for Puerto Rico?
In the location word bank, I’ve listed each U.S. state and Puerto Rico for you. Can you match each location to the list of non-commodity crops widely grown there? While you’re figuring this out, please remember to be thankful for the farmers who grow these crops and the workers who harvest them. If I missed an important non-commodity crop(s) for your area, I apologize. Good luck!
Answers can be found in the last article of this issue, “Next Month in This Awful Awesome Life – September 2025. Keep reading your way through this issue or you can use this link to jump to the answers,
Locations:
Alabama: Montana:
Alaska: Nebraska:
Arizona: Nevada:
Arkansas: New Hampshire:
California: New Jersey:
Colorado: New Mexico
Connecticut: New York
Delaware: North Carolina:
Florida: North Dakota
Georgia: Ohio
Hawaii: Oklahoma:
Idaho: Oregon:
Illinois: Pennsylvania
Indiana: Rhode Island
Iowa: South Carolina
Kansas: South Dakota
Kentucky Tennessee:
Louisianna: Texas:
Maine: Utah
Maryland: Vermont:
Massachusetts: Virginia:
Michigan: Washington:
Minnesota: West Virginia:
Mississippi: Wisconsin
Missouri: Wyoming:
Puerto Rico:
Non-Commodity Crops:
1. Peas, seeds for cooking oils, dry beans, dry peas _________________
2. Rice, spinach, peanuts, pears ______________________
3. Potatoes, carrots, cabbage, lettuce ______________________
4. Tomatoes, maple syrup ______________________
5. Oats, sunflowers/seeds, ______________________
6. Sugar beets, hay, barley, dry edible beans __________________
7. Plantains, coffee, bananas, sweet potatoes__________________
8. Apples, mushrooms, peaches, grapes, oats ____________________
9. Tomatoes, melons, pumpkins, beans _____________________
10. Apples, Maple syrup, leafy greens, hay, squash_____________
11. Chile Peppers, peanuts, pecans ____________________
12. Peanuts, hay ____________________
13. Tomatoes, snap beans, pumpkins_________________
14. Cranberries, maple syrup, apples, squash/pumpkins, sweet corn___________________
15. Grapes, almonds, pistachios, lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, citrus fruits __________________
16. Sweet corn, potatoes, lettuce. apples, tomatoes _______________
17. Peanuts, pecans, peaches, blueberries _______________
18. Apples, honey, maple syrup_____________________
19. Dry edible beans (kidney, pinto, navy, red, black turtle, pink and Cranberry)_______________________
20. Potatoes, melons, beans, spinach __________________
21. Alfalfa, potatoes, onions, garlic ___________________
22. Apples, watermelon _____________________
23. Potatoes, hazel nuts, grapes, mint, onions, berries _____________
24. Tart cherries, seed oils, apricots, peaches, apples, sweet corn, pumpkins __________________
25. Lettuce, alfalfa, melons ____________________
26. Sweet potatoes, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, peppers, strawberries, melons, pumpkins __________________________
27. Cranberries, tart cherries, apples, pumpkins, carrots, snap beans, green peas _____________________
28. Potatoes, barley, hay __________________
29. Potatoes, sugar beets, oats _____________________
30. Peanuts, watermelon, cantaloupes ________________
31. Rice (#1 in the nation), grain sorghum __________________
32. Potatoes, apples, cherries, grapes, pears, raspberries __________________
33. Oranges, other citrus fruits, tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, peppers, strawberries __________________
34. Peanuts, seed oils, sorghum, oats, pears _________________
35. Macadamias, sugar cane, coffee, taro, bananas, pineapples ___________________
36. Apples, peaches, grapes, pumpkins, potatoes ______________
37. Potatoes, sunflowers/seeds ____________________
38. Rice, grain sorghum _________________________
39. Potatoes, apples, tart cherries, sweet corn, maple syrup _____________________
40. Potatoes, peppermint, sugar beets, apples, peaches, cherries _________________
41. Sweet potatoes, sugar cane, rice ___________________
42. Potatoes, sorghum, sugar beets, edible dry beans _________________
43. Apples, maple syrup, hay ____________________
44. Pumpkins, seed oils, dry beans, dry peas _________________
45. Potatoes, wild blueberries, apples, maple syrup _______________
46. Lentils, chickpeas, dry peas, sugar beets, alfalfa _______________
47. Bell peppers, tomatoes, blueberries, cranberries, sweet potatoes __________________
48. Potatoes, blueberries, grapes, cherries, peaches, apples, sugar beets ________________
49. Sweet potatoes, peanuts, pears ____________________
50. Apples, hay, peaches, leafy greens, peppers ______________________
51. Hay, hemp, canola, tomatoes, potatoes, apples _______________
Sources for this quiz:
Wikipedia