States in Numbers / America in real numbers🏠

Which state grows the most ginseng?

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Guess

Ginseng is a forest root, and farmers grow it under shade cloth. Which states harvest the most? Tap them most-to-least.

Tapping assigns 1→4 in order

Never heard of it! It's a plant, so… California. Everything grows in California 🐾

Answer

Among the states USDA lists, the order is…
    Wisconsin! Ginseng grows on the shady floor of eastern hardwood forests, so farmers stretch dark cloth over their beds to build a roof of fake forest — and then wait, because a root is left in the ground for years before it is dug. People have collected the wild plant here and shipped it overseas since the 1700s. Close to 9 acres in every 10 of America's farmed ginseng are in Wisconsin, about 22.4× as many acres as West Virginia. After it come West Virginia and North Carolina — Appalachian states, where this plant also grows wild in the woods.
    📚 Background Ginseng is a root, and it is one of the few crops grown in the shade on purpose. American ginseng lives on the floor of eastern hardwood forests, under a roof of leaves, so growers stretch dark cloth over their beds to build an artificial forest. It is slow: a farmed root usually stays in the ground about three to four years before it is dug. People have collected the wild plant and shipped it overseas since the 1700s — so much of it that wild digging is now controlled by permits and seasons. The state that harvests almost all of America's farmed ginseng acres is Wisconsin, better known for cows and cheese. (USDA NASS Quick Stats) (opens in a new tab)
    🔍 Explore more: 🌿『The crop that hides from the sun』→
    Never heard of it! It's a plant, so… California. Everything grows in California 🐾

    Compare

    Ginseng harvested (acres, 2022)

    🇺🇸 United States (national)897 acres
    Wisconsin #1 784 acres
    Most by far: Wisconsin (784 acres). At the other end of this short list, a state can show as little as 1 acres.

    Note: acres of ginseng harvested, from the 2022 Census of Agriculture — the count of every farm in the country, taken once every five years. USDA NASS. USDA published a ginseng figure for 10 states; where printing a state’s number would give away information about individual farms, the number is withheld. The top three are each bigger than every withheld state added together, so those three really are the national top three — below that, this is the order among the states USDA lists.

    A crop that hides from the sun 🐾

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    📋 See the ranking table (top 10)
    Ginseng harvested (acres, 2022)
    Rank State Value Share of U.S. total
    #1 Wisconsin 784 acres 87.4%
    #2 West Virginia 35 acres 3.9%
    #3 North Carolina 33 acres 3.7%
    #4 South Carolina 9 acres 1%
    #5 New York 8 acres 0.9%
    #6 Pennsylvania 4 acres 0.4%
    #7 California 3 acres 0.3%
    #8 Arkansas 2 acres 0.2%
    #9 Massachusetts 1 acres 0.1%
    #9 Washington 1 acres 0.1%
    🇺🇸 USA (total) 897 acres 100%

    USDA published a ginseng figure for 10 states; where printing a state’s number would give away information about individual farms, the number is withheld. The top three are each bigger than every withheld state added together, so those three really are the national top three — below that, this is the order among the states USDA lists.

    Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (2022 (Census of Agriculture))

    Sources

    Data as of: 2022 (Census of Agriculture)
    USDA NASS Quick Stats: GINSENG - ACRES HARVESTED, 2022 Census of Agriculture, by state (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-10) — Published values only (the committed raw file holds the API response verbatim). The Census of Agriculture published a ginseng figure for 10 states; where printing a state’s number would give away information about individual farms, the value is withheld, so this is an honest partial ranking. The top three states are each larger than every withheld state added together, so the top three hold nationally — a check this site re-runs on every build.
    ↳ In Quick Stats, pick GINSENG / GINSENG - ACRES HARVESTED, Census year 2022, Total domain, and compare states.