Aronia is a shrub native to eastern North America. Its berries are small, dark, almost black — and an old name for the plant is black chokeberry. In the 2022 Census of Agriculture USDA printed the acres of fruit-bearing aronia for 25 states; 15 more are hidden behind the withheld mark, two carry the mark for an amount too small to print, and 8 states have no line at all. Put these three in order, most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→3 in order
Small dark berries? That sounds like a blueberry. So it must grow where blueberries grow — Maine! Or Michigan! Somewhere with a lake and a pie contest. 🐾
2Answer
The real order is…
Iowa — 1,041 acres, about 3.4× second-place Nebraska, and just over half of the 1,983 acres counted in the whole country. These three are national places, too: the printed figures come within 24 acres of USDA’s national total. Every figure is rounded to whole acres, so allow a little extra for that — even then, all the states USDA did not print add up to less than 40 acres, and each of the top three is far bigger than that. Biscuit went looking in blueberry country. Maine prints 8 acres. Michigan prints 2. Among the states USDA printed, fourth and fifth are North Dakota and Washington. Now the name. The University of Wisconsin–Madison’s extension says the berries have “an astringent flavor when eaten fresh, hence the name chokeberry.” North Dakota State University’s Carrington Research Extension Center puts it plainly: “The fruit is not bitter – it is astringent: it dries out your mouth.” Bitter is a taste; astringent is a dry, puckery feeling. The Wisconsin page says that feeling is a problem for farmers, too: “Direct marketing of aronia berries to consumers is a challenge because of the astringency of the fresh berries.” None of these sources says why Iowa is at the top of the USDA table, and neither does this quiz. Biscuit’s Field Note follows the plant on a strange trip: according to the North Dakota research center, the fruit varieties were developed in Eastern Europe and later brought back to the United States.
📚 BackgroundThe University of Wisconsin–Madison’s extension introduces the plant as “a deciduous shrub native to eastern North America, including Wisconsin.” It says the berries have “an astringent flavor when eaten fresh, hence the name chokeberry, but they are much more palatable when used in processed products,” and that selling them fresh is hard: “Direct marketing of aronia berries to consumers is a challenge because of the astringency of the fresh berries.” The page describes a farm crop, too, not only a wild shrub: “Plants are self-fruitful and do not require more than one variety for fruit set,” and “Commercial, over-row blueberry harvesters work well for aronia.” None of this says why Iowa is at the top of the USDA table. Neither does this quiz.(University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension, Crops & Soils, “Aronia Berries,” sections introduction, Production and Markets. Quotations unchanged)↗ (opens in a new tab)
Small dark berries? That sounds like a blueberry. So it must grow where blueberries grow — Maine! Or Michigan! Somewhere with a lake and a pie contest. 🐾
3Compare
Fruit-bearing aronia bushes (acres, 2022)
🇺🇸 United States (national)1,983 acres
Iowa#11,041 acres
Most: Iowa (1,041 acres). The national figure USDA prints is 1,983 acres. At 640 acres to the square mile, every fruit-bearing aronia acre in the country would fit inside a little over three square miles.
Note: acres of aronia bushes old enough to carry fruit in 2022, from USDA’s five-yearly Census of Agriculture. This line counts land on farms — not pounds of berries, and not bushes growing wild. The United States bar is USDA’s own national figure. USDA NASS. USDA printed a fruit-bearing aronia acreage for 25 states. Fifteen more — among them California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia — carry the withheld mark (D), which USDA uses when printing a state’s number would give away information about individual farms. Connecticut and Nevada carry (Z), the mark for an amount too small to show as one whole acre. Eight states have no line in this table at all, among them Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and New Hampshire. The printed figures come within 24 acres of the national figure. Because every figure is rounded to whole acres, the states USDA did not print could add up to a little more than that gap — but still less than 40 acres, far smaller than the top three figures. So the first three places here are national places. From fourth place down, the places shown are places among the printed states only. A withheld state is not the same as a state growing none, and a state with no line is not the same as a state with no aronia bushes. This site re-runs those checks on every build.
USDA printed a fruit-bearing aronia acreage for 25 states. Fifteen more — among them California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia — carry the withheld mark (D), which USDA uses when printing a state’s number would give away information about individual farms. Connecticut and Nevada carry (Z), the mark for an amount too small to show as one whole acre. Eight states have no line in this table at all, among them Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and New Hampshire. The printed figures come within 24 acres of the national figure. Because every figure is rounded to whole acres, the states USDA did not print could add up to a little more than that gap — but still less than 40 acres, far smaller than the top three figures. So the first three places here are national places. From fourth place down, the places shown are places among the printed states only. A withheld state is not the same as a state growing none, and a state with no line is not the same as a state with no aronia bushes. This site re-runs those checks on every build.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2022)
Sources
Data as of: 2022
USDA NASS Quick Stats: ARONIA BERRIES - ACRES BEARING, 2022 Census of Agriculture, by state↗ (opens in a new tab) (2026-09-15) — Published values only (the committed raw file holds the API response verbatim). USDA printed a fruit-bearing aronia acreage for 25 states. Fifteen more — among them California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia — carry the withheld mark (D), which USDA uses when printing a state’s number would give away information about individual farms. Connecticut and Nevada carry (Z), the mark for an amount too small to show as one whole acre. Eight states have no line in this table at all, among them Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and New Hampshire. The printed figures come within 24 acres of the national figure. Allowing for the rounding of every figure to whole acres, the states USDA did not print still add up to less than 40 acres, far smaller than the top three figures, so the first three places here are national places. From fourth place down, places are among the printed states only. A withheld state is not the same as a state growing none. This site re-runs those checks on every build.
↳ In Quick Stats, pick CENSUS / Census of Agriculture, year 2022, commodity ARONIA BERRIES, short description ARONIA BERRIES - ACRES BEARING, Total domain, and compare states.