it's harvest time and across the United States the race is on to bring our food and what's fantastic about our country is that 80 of what we eat is produced here growers in the United States are at the top of their game many of the crops grown by U.S Growers are truly world class but with unpredictable weather and changing consumer tastes on a daily basis farming is also a tough business have we had enough Summer Sunshine for the crop or is this year's wet July washed away all the Harvest this is the time of year when Growers across the land find out whether the Blood Sweat and Tears they've poured into their Farms has paid off from Acres of strawberries in California to wheat fields in Texas and sweet potato farms in North Carolina we're tracking the harvests of some of the top United States producers in three distinct growing regions each with its own set of challenges who had a good year who struggled with the bad crop now we will find out together this is Harvest 2023. the southwest of the United States is home to hundreds of Acres of strawberry farms workers here are selecting thousands of quality seedlings to prepare for a new strawberry crop most of them are immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala thousands of strawberry seedlings will then be moved to Farms to start a new life as of 2022 the total area of strawberry cultivation in California is 39 000 acres and two-thirds of that is in the Santa Maria area every July about 8 900 workers flocked to California Farms to grow strawberries strawberries prefer a cool Coastal climate which is a major reason California's strawberry fields are so much more productive than those elsewhere currently in California there are many different varieties of strawberries grown so strawberry harvesting in this state occurs all year round despite the hot weather in California the strawberry crop in 2023 is not affected in particular strawberry Harvest sealed at the present time has increased by eight percent compared to 2022 as of August 2023 California's strawberry Harvest is 1.4 billion pounds this is good news for strawberry growers in California and strawberry lovers across the United States foreign each year the lettuce fields in Arizona provide about 23 percent of the country's lettuce production early August is when thousands of workers flock to the lower Colorado River Valley area to grow lettuce growing lettuce is often done by these Farm Workers early in the morning to limit the heat of the weather in 2023 Arizona is the second largest lettuce growing area in the United States with 26 200 Acres the place with the largest lettuce growing area is California with 87 000 Acres in Arizona hot weather in June and July is a big problem for lettuce Farms in addition dozens of lettuce samples can also be damaged if they encounter Heavy Rain lasting several days on some organic lettuce Farms weed control is done manually instead of using herbicides the lettuce Harvest usually takes place from mid-December and lasts until March of the following year as of July 2022 the lettuce harvest in Arizona is approximately 53 million pounds and this is also considered a successful crop for lettuce producers good mid-march is when sweet corn is planted in the fields in Washington in 2023 Washington is the second largest sweet corn growing state in the United States with about 23 000 Acres the largest growing area of sweet corn is in Florida with more than 37 000 Acres currently most sweet corn varieties grown in Washington take about 91 days to be harvested sweet corn crop in Washington will be considered a success if it does not experience intense heat lasting more than 20 days each year nearly 8 000 workers flocked to Sweet Corn farms in Washington to harvest up till now the Sweet Corn Harvest in Washington is about 757 000 tons 13 compared to the same period in 2022 I recommend traveling to the Sweet Corn Farms during the harvest season the atmosphere there is wonderful and will help you feel relaxed thank you in North Carolina sweet potato planting usually begins in mid-may in 2023 the United States has about 157 000 acres of land used for sweet potato production of which the sweet potato growing area in North Carolina is about 111 000 Acres 35 000 Acres more than California Louisiana and Mississippi combined after about three months from planting billions of sweet potatoes here are ready to be harvested the process of harvesting sweet potatoes in North Carolina usually takes place from June and ends in early July every year around 7 300 workers traveled to sweet potato farms in North Carolina to harvest according to estimates by the U.S department of Agriculture the 2023 sweet potato production is 1.5 million tons down more than 10 percent from last year and bring in a value of about 613 million dollars this is the sugar beet Harvest going on at Sanilac county in Michigan in 2022 sugar beet acreage in Michigan is about 163 000 Acres the time to harvest sugar beet in Michigan usually lasts in early August and ends at the end of October it is estimated that in 2023 sugar beet production in Michigan will reach 2.8
million tons and finish sugar production is about 545 000 tons up seven percent from last year foreign s are one of the most famous fruits of Washington the end of February is when the apple tree planting takes place on the Washington Farms these workers will plant about 650 apple trees per acre as of 2023 there are about 1455 apple farms in Washington State with an area of 172 000 Acres they typically Harvest about 10 to 12 billion apples each year in early spring when young shoots appear a probiotic is used to protect the buds from Attack by insects and aphids July is usually the time when thousands of Migrant workers from Mexico come to farms in Washington to pick apples the wages of these workers will be calculated based on the number of boxes of apples that they collect on average each person will receive about 13 dollars per hour according to the Washington State fruit association's forecast Apple production in 2023 will reach 1.97 million tons down nine percent compared to 2021 because of the impact of a Long Cold Spring this can be bad news for Apple Growers however do not worry because the number of apples produced was still pretty high in the next part of the video we will go to some other farms in the United States to see how the Harvest of thousands of tons of fruit and vegetables happens the first place we will see in this video is a large Vineyard in the sand yorkin county in California between August and October each year is the time when tens of thousands of workers flocked at The Vineyards in California to harvest the average wage for each of these workers is about 17 an hour according to statistics released in 2021 the total area of Vineyards in the state of California is 895 000 Acres of which up to 73 of the area is planted with grapes for wine production each year California grape Farms Produce about 3.8 million tons of grapes accounting for 92 percent of the country's great production hundreds of tons of grapes here after harvest will be will be transferred to the winery to produce wine here's what's going on in a chili Farm in Florida around 230 workers are hired to this Farm to harvest the chili currently Florida California and Michigan other states with the largest Chile production in the United States in 2020 U.S Chile production is about 325 000 tons of which up to 75 percent is produced in California and Florida thousands of Chili Peppers after harvesting will be transferred to trucks thanks to this conveyor system the third place we will visit in this video is a persimmon Farm in southern Indiana September to November every year is the time when the persimmon Harvest takes place here Simon is a fruit with a rather hard stem so these workers will need to use scissors to cut it instead of picking by hand like many other fruits according to statistics released in 2021 the total area planted for Persimmon in the United States is about 3 200 acres and the yield obtained is about fifteen thousand and three hundred tons 75 of assignment production in the United States is consumed domestically with the remainder being mainly exported to Canada and Mexico now we will go to watermelon field in Arizona to see how thousands of watermelons here are harvested currently Arizona and Georgia as well as Florida other states with the largest watermelon production accounting for about 27 of total watermelon production in the United States yes in 2021 in the US around 105 000 Acres of fields are used to grow watermelons and the yield is usually more than 1.6 million tons foreign the sixth place we will visit in this video is a peach farm in the state of Georgia oh look at these beautiful ripe peaches would you like to come here and pick them yourself currently California produces 73 percent of U.S Peach production however in terms of taste and deliciousness peaches grown in Georgia are well known and appreciated by everyone in 2021 the U.S states produced about 689
000 tons of peaches of which up to 505 000 tons come from California next we will go to a kiwi Farm in Yuba County in the state of California every September nearly 4 000 workers flocked to Kiwi farms in California to harvest millions of kiwi fruits after harvesting will be shipped to factories for Packaging currently the kiwi fruit growing area in the United States is about 4 500 acres and the annual Harvest is about 47 000 tons these are pictures of a Cherry Farm in Washington currently the United States is the second largest Cherry producer in the world after turkey in 2021 the cherries harvested in the United States are about 266 000 tons and bring in a value of about 522 million dollars foreign here's what's going on at a tangerine Farm in Alabama currently Alabama and Florida other states with the largest Citrus production in the United States at the end of this video we'll take a look at the Harvest taking place in several U.S vegetable fields how do you feel about the process of harvesting fruits and vegetables in this video let us know what you think in the comments section of the video goodbye and see you in the next video thank you foreign
2023-07-06